


Have Faith

by FaustyFlakes



Category: Seduce Me (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Seduce Me - Freeform, The Otome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-05-18
Updated: 2016-06-04
Packaged: 2018-06-09 04:21:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 4
Words: 25,950
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6889789
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaustyFlakes/pseuds/FaustyFlakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Faith Underwood is a centuries old witch who tries to live day to day in the modern world. However, when her old friend Harold Anderson passes, she is left a letter from his lawyer. It informs her that his granddaughter Mika Anderson is going to be inheriting his old estate. Harold also requests that Faith destroy all of the evidence that links Harold to the occult. He expresses that it is for Mika's safety. On the night Faith arrives at estate, she not only discovers that Mika has already moved in, but she is not alone. Five young men have made themselves at home in mansion with her. However, Faith recognizes them as incubi and immediately distrusts them. But wanting to fulfill Harold's wish, as well as learn about the gift he left her, Faith decides to remain civil. But as time goes on, Faith finds herself more at ease living with the demon royals, especially with the eldest brother, James. But in the shadows, two schemes are being conducted. One by Succubi who wishes to restore peace to her kingdom. The other is being devised by an old adversary from Faith's past. If he succeeds, the fabric separating all the realities of the universe will crumble. And he is missing crucial piece; the soul shard of a powerful witch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: The story starts off relatively tame, but as it goes on, there will be scenes of explicit sex, sexual assault, violence and cursing. You have been warned.

     The sun crawled slowly over the spring horizon, a signal to mark the early risings of the day. Hair-line thin wisps of light pierced the slightly misshapen and dusty blinds of the rundown flat. As the sun climbed higher, the rays widened until they slowly found their way to the closed lids of the flat's sole occupant. The woman's lids fluttered before the muscles reluctantly lifted themselves, and her hazel orbs were met with a the soft prickling of the morning's rousing streams. Letting out a soft, almost defeated sigh, the woman pushed her body up from it's lying position so as to sit up before glancing at the bright green numbers plastered on her alarm clock. 6:30 A.M. The woman ran her fingers through her soft, albeit messy dark green hair, letting out a second, even heavier sigh.  _Damn it. Brain woke me up early again._ Her eyes scanned the room to a small steel cage propped up in the corner. In it, was a small blackbird, with its beak gently nestled within its feathers. The woman smirked. _Lucky you Ramona. You get to sleep in._ Throwing her legs over the bed, she leaned over and turned off the alarm, so it wouldn't go off after she left. She didn't want her landlord to be cross with her again.

     A heavy yawn escaped her mouth which slowly made way for a groan as she reached her arms up for a satisfying early morning stretch, before lazily sauntering over to the cage. She leaned down and scooped a small handful of bird seed and opened the cage to gingerly sprinkle it on the pile of newspaper that made up the floor of the metal enclosure. Ramona was only slightly stirred by her owners movements, but she quickly brushed it off and resumed her slumber.

      The woman slowly turned away from the cage and moved over to grab her clothes off of the folding chair, that she had carelessly tossed there the night before. She lifted them up to her nose and gave them a series of short sniffs, making sure there weren't any lingering smells left from last night's venture. _Seems alright. Doubt anyone will notice a small drop or two._ Satisfied, she slid her black bra over her head and adjusted the cups before pulling her white blouse up her arms and rolled the sleeves up so that they bunched above her elbows. Next came her red tie, which left hanging slightly around her neck. After, she slowly slid on a pair of dark blue panties, followed by her black denim shorts and then plopping down on the seat. As she sat, she leaned down grab her gray thigh-high socks and the proceeded to slide them up her slender legs. As she did, she noticed them. Tiny little scars, randomly scattered across her pale flesh. The woman chuckled softly to herself, gingerly running her finger tips across them. _Looks like it's wearing off._

     Upon hoisting up and tightly lacing her boots, she turned in her seat to open the top drawer of her desk and pulled out a small vile, containing a few drops of a shiny purple liquid. _This should cover me for the next few days as long as I'm not too reckless with my powers. But I'm doing to need to make more_. She let out an exasperated sigh. _Man what a pain. Well, with any luck, Harold can help me out. Hope he won't mind the unexpected visit._ She tugged the cork out of the vile and proceed to turn it to allow the remaining few drops to fall onto her tongue. Flinching, she swallowed, trying her best to force the droplets down her throat without gagging. _Fucking glamour spells._ _Why do they make them taste so fucking nasty?  She shuddered before moving_ her hand to pick up a small wooden hair brush while also leaning her head over to check the clock again. 6:40 AM. _Guess I'll head out early._

     The woman quickly glanced at the small mirror by her front door and inspected her face. To her relief, the scars on her face slowly began to evaporate as the spell took hold. Content with the results, she picked up her brush and slowly began to run it through her messy hair. As she did, something caught her eye, pulling her attention away from her task. It was a thumb sized black diamond that rested itself in the flesh of her chest. She had missed the top two buttons on her blouse when she was getting dressed, so it was now fully exposed. She stared thoughtfully at the object for several moments and what little light there was caused it to glint slightly.  _Sometimes I forget this thing is still here..._ She reached up and tenderly ran a finger across it, and in reaction the tiny shard began to give off a faint and warm glow. The woman winced and abruptly pulled her finger away.  _No need to get all nostalgic._

     She then returned to the task of brushing her hair. The brush didn't get rid of the tangles that were matted up in her locks, but it did at least smooth it out.  _Good. I look passable today_. She smirked at her own reflection.  _Well, maybe just a small tier above being completely shitty. It'll have to do. Thankfully the weekend isn't too far off._  She turned her head to Ramona, who slowly began to wake up. She ruffled her feathers and cawed softly at her owner.  “Be good Ramona,” she said while making her way to the door of her flat. As she did, she hastily grabbed her messenger bag and her dark green jacket.  _Might as well swing by K's and pick up a chocolate croissant since I've got the time._ She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a single sliver of mint gum, unwrapped it and popped it into her mouth. With luck, she had hoped it would help get the glamour taste off of her tongue. To her dismay, it barely covered the disgusting flavor. _Maybe some black coffee too so I can get this gross taste out of my mouth._

\--------------------------------------------------------------- 

     I stared quietly over at her, her head turned to face out the window. She was watching the rain fall, and seemed too lost in thought to pay attention to Mrs. Phillips' lecture on 1970's economic theory. And to be fair, so was I. It had been almost a year since I left Harold's care, and before leaving, he asked me to look after his granddaughter Mika. And after all he had done for me, I was more than willing. Honestly, a part of me felt it was a bit too simple a favor. Mika didn't look like she had any knowledge regarding her grandpa's secret activities. And given what Harold had told, Mika was going to be taking over Anderson Family Toys after his passing. However, with how he had made it sound, she didn't seem to keen on the idea, mostly because she was being pressured to do so by her father, David. I've never met the man. But he sounded like a complete cunt.

     I'll admit, I wasn't necessarily close to Mika. We just had the one economics class together. And the only reason I had enrolled into her school in the first place was to hide in plain sight. I would have used my magic to make it so we had every class together, but I worried that might look a tad suspect. I didn't want to run risk of raising any suspicion whatsoever. Call me paranoid or overly cautious, but its kept me alive this long. 

     Again, I honestly thought Harold's request was odd. My observation indicated that she had no hint of the same power that flowed within her grandfather's veins. And the subject of the occult didn't seem like one that interested her. Unless she was doing a really good job at hiding it like Harold. But I doubted that. I feel like I would have seen something by now. I suppose it wasn't a big deal. Posing as a high school student was a good cover to stay in the city.

     Before meeting Harold, I had initially come to town with the intent of just passing through. However when I had discovered that Devils were trying to turn the whole area into their stomping grounds, I felt the need to step in. I absolutely despised Devils. And their abrasive approach made them a royal a pain in the ass. Fortunately though, after much “debating” and by that I mean a slurry of cuts and bruises, we managed to work out an arrangement, one that he has honored for the most part over the past ten years. And every so often, I'd loan them a glamour spell and some cash so they could gather more supplies. But Malix and his cohorts had been stepping out of bounds again. He knew the rules; I wouldn't prevent him or his goons from picking off random passerby's in the woods just so as long as they kept to the forest. If they even set a single hairline into the more populated areas, I'd take them out. Which is what happened last night. I looked down at my jacket sleeve, noticing a tiny splotch of red on it. Looks like I didn't get out completely clean like I thought.

     One of his newest recruits had gotten reckless. Because of that, I ended up using a chaos spell which left him decorating a back alley with his corpse. When I tossed his mangled body to Malix's feet, he damn near took my head off. How the hell a hot head like him ended up in a position of authority I'll never know, especially when his girlfriend was clearly more intelligent than he was. After a small spat with Malix, which ended with me slicing off the tip of his forked tail, he finally ceased and begrudgingly agreed it wouldn't happen again. I can still hear the scream of that poor couple who had made the poor decision of parking their car a mile east of Malix's camp.

     I knew Harold wouldn't approve of my tactics. He said as much when he had rescued me after a small squabble with Malix, which left me severely wounded. Harold found me and nursed me back to health. This left me in his debt, but at the time he didn't ask anything of me. All he wanted was that I remain until I made a full recovery. At first I estimated I'd only be there a week. But that slowly grew into months, than years. But when he learned I was still heading out on patrols every night, (and putting myself in harms way, as he put it)  we decided to part ways and I thanked him for all of his years of hospitality. 

“I finally have a favor I want to ask of you.” he said, his voice still soft, but had a level of stoniness to it. “If you're going to remain in the city, I ask that you keep an eye on my granddaughter. If those goons are still looming as you say, I want to make sure she doesn't get hurt.” I was more than happy to accept. It was the least I could do.

     A small smile and thoughtful grew on my lips as I remembered our last encounter. I knew he didn't want me to leave, and a part of me didn't want to either. I enjoyed Harold's company. But I wasn't going to retire from my work. He knew that, that no matter how much he disapproved, things wouldn't change. But I could still hear the disappointment in his words as we said our good-byes, despite the warm smile he gave me as I walked out the door. I debated whether or not I should drop by for a visit. I mean, I needed some more glamour spells, so hopefully he'd be kind enough to lend me some ingredients if he had any left to spare. Besides, it would be nice to see hi-

      My thoughts were suddenly interrupted by Mrs. Phillips' voice growing more stern in tone as she addressed Mika with a question to see if she had been paying attention to the lecture.

 “Umm....” Mika's voice trailed slightly as she tried to recall the answer. “The Black-Scholes model formula.”

 “Very good as always, Miss Anderson” Mrs. Phillips nodded in approval and returned to her lecture as Mika's two friends quietly praised her for her answer. However, not quiet enough as Mrs. Phillips turned back to us and tossed a question to Mika's friend Suzu Cappini. I chuckled to myself and lowered my head to my empty notebook. I hadn't written down a single thing.  Guess I really didn't have much a right to laugh. Hopefully she didn't call on me next. I was barely passing economics, so the last thing I needed was to make an ass of myself. Moments later. Mrs. Phillips dismissed us to work on our group projects until the final bell rang. I followed as Suzu made a dash for the door, bumping into Mika as I exited.

 “Oh. I'm sorry Faith,” she said. I simply smiled and waved my hand in dismissal.

 “No worries Mika. Your friend has the right idea. I'm starving.” I heard her giggle as I made my way down the hall to the cafeteria.

 Before turning the corner however, I could hear her friend Naomi Patterson prattle to her. “Man. Faith is stone cold don't you think?”

 “Huh? What? No. What gives you that idea?”

 “I dunno...She just seems so distant from everyone else. That's all”

 “I guess so. But she's not unfriendly. Maybe we should inv-”

“Dude!” Suzu chimed in as I rounded the corner. By that point they were out of earshot and I couldn't make out the rest of what she said, but I imagined she was complaining about her friends not moving to the cafeteria fast enough. 

     I rarely ate in the cafeteria. I didn't like the noise. So I planted myself in my favorite spot. A small run down bunch under a rather imposing tree in the center of the quad. The rain had stopped around that time, so I didn't have to worry about getting drenched. After I finished eating my (spaghetti and spicy sausage, one of my favorites) , I leaned my head up to stare quietly at the clouds, letting out a soft sigh on content. I knew a lot of people who hated school. But I felt it was one of the few places where I could actually relax and feel normal. However, I quickly snapped back to reality when I heard a series of footsteps coming from the one of the pathways to my left. It was Mika and she was making her way to the entrance of the school and given how fast she was running, she looked like she was distressed. Where was she going? I got up and called out to her. She stopped in her tracks and turned slowly to look at me.

     Her eyes were moist and swollen. She had been crying. My legs buckled a bit. I wasn't expecting her to look like that. I think in all the time I had been keeping my eye on her, I had never once seen her so sorrowful. Mika was always so positive. She seemed to take everything in stride, from family stress to being hassled by Lisette. I sort of stood there, my mouth agape as I stared back at her. After a few moments of awkward silence, I piped up.

 “Hey so I...You alright? Did something happen?”

 Mika lowered her head to the ground. I could tell she was trying to cover a new torrent tears.

 “I...I just have to go home. There's been an emergency.” And with those words, she quickly turned on her heel and continued on route towards the entrance.

     I reached my hand out as she ran, but lowered it when she vanished from my sight. I was surprised she had even stopped to respond to me in the first place. I mean, as I said, we barely knew each other. I slid my hands into the pockets and looked back up to the clouds. They were growing dark again. I muttered out a small prayer for Mika, hoping that everything would turn out alright. However, as I would find out later, that was not the case at all.

 

\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

      As I opened the door to my apartment, I heard the soft crumple of paper beneath my foot. I looked down and saw what looked to be a letter. I picked it up and examined it. It was really fine parchment paper, folded up and even had a fancy wax seal on the front, with the letters H.A on it. Imediately, I realized it was from Harold. But before I could inspect it further, I was interrupted by a loud screech. 

     Oh shit. Ramona. I moved over to her cage, unlocked the door and pulled it open. As soon as I did, she flew out at me, greeting me with a flurry of feathers. “Ah! Jesus Christ Ramona!” But the little black buzzard darted past me and perched herself up on the metal bed frame that encased my mattress. I shot her an annoyed look, but she just went to preening her feathers. Letting out a defeated sigh, I plopped down on my bed. The force of my body meeting mattress caused Ramona to squawk and flap her wings. “Yeah yeah. You know you don't HAVE to sit your ass on my bed, right?” The bird responded with another squawk, this one a bit lower, as if she were cursing at me under breath. I just rolled my eyes and held up the letter, waving it at her in a scolding. “Keep up the attitude and I AM going to work on replacing you as my familiar." 

      This time she didn't dignify me with a response, she merely craned her neck and blinked at me with her beady black eyes. I shook my head at her before digging my nail into the seal to break it. As I did, a large brass key tumbled out onto my lap. It also had Harold's initial's on it. I looked back up to the letter and began read it over. And it was at that moment I realized why Mika had been so upset.

       _Dear Faith. I hope this letter finds you well. I asked my lawyer to deliver it to you in the event of my passing. As you can probably imagine, if you are reading this, you know what that means. I'm sorry you have to find out this way. I regret to admit that you were right. My pursuits have led me to make some choices that have taken a toll on my body. I've been ill in bed these past few days, and I barely have the strength to write this. And I wanted to see you again before my time ran out, but I wasn't sure how you would react. But it's not all bad, I've lived a full life. And I am glad you were willing to help me in my hunt for knowledge, as well as bless me with your loyal companionship. For all this and more, I sincerely thank you._

_But in this last letter, it is with a guilty heart I ask you for one final favor. I know you have already done so much for me, but this is a task I can only entrust to you. I am leaving my estate to Mika, and I do not want her discovering my secrets. I don't know what kind of danger that could put her in. Enclosed, I have left you a copy of my house key. I need you to go to my estate and destroy any evidence of my activities; my books, my laptop, my artifacts, all of it._

_Thank you Faith. I owe you a lifetime of debt I will never be able to repay. But hopefully what I left you in my second underground study will suffice. In case you don't remember, the password is Eden. Take care of yourself._

_Kindest regards,_

_Harold Anderson_

     I slowly lowered the letter. I could feel the pressure of tears well up in my eyes, but I bit down on my knuckle to keep them at bay. If I got emotional, I'd have trouble focusing. I'd have plenty of time to grieve later. I slowly leaned my head back on my pillows and stared quietly at the brass key still in my hand. I should do it sooner rather than later. I mean, there was no point in waiting really. I also had an invested in interest in finding out what this surprise was that he had mentioned. I glanced over at the clock. It read 4:00 PM. Man, it wasn't even late but I was still exhausted from the night prior. Ramona cooed softly above me.

     “Hey Ramona? Mind if I take a nap before we head out?” She gave a surprisingly gentle caw in response. Guess she sympathized with me. I took it as her granting me permission, which caused me to chuckle. Man, taking instruction from a bird seemed like a new low for me and I couldn't help but laugh quietly to myself about it. “Thanks”, I said before moving eyes up to the ceiling. I began to count the cracks that were scattered across its surface before my lids slowly began to slide shut. I'll rest for a while before heading out on patrol. And than tomorrow it was off to Anderson Manor.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith sets out on her nightly routine of patrolling the city, where she keeps her eye out for Malix, his gang or any other creature that decides to wreak havoc. However, when she makes a stop by Malix's camp, she discovers that he and his throng of devils were attacked. And as Malix recounts the events, he mentions to her that the group was made of incubi, which immediately gets her blood boiling. To keep Malix from causing any trouble, she vows to hunt for the incubi herself.

     I awoke a few hours later to the sound of thunder billowing in the distance. Sitting up, I saw the illuminated numbers of 7:00 pm spread out across the clock. It provided the only source of faint light in my dimly lit flat. Ramona let out a series of distressed screeches in response to the booming sounds from outside. I sat up, made my way to the window and pulled the blinds back before popping the metal latch to allow it swing open. Upon doing this, I was met with a powerful gust of wind and a light sprinkle of water. The open window promoted Ramona to fly over and perch herself my left shoulder.

     “You ready?” I asked. She let out a small knocking sound in approval.

     I leaned my legs out the open window and dropped down to the fire escape below before making my up to the roof. When I got there, another flash appeared in the sky, followed by the low rumble of thunder. Fortunately, it wasn't as loud as the previous one had been, meaning the storm was traveling away from us. I looked to my familiar before gently running my finger tenderly against the feathers of her throat. I could feel a small vibrating sensation emanating from where my finger was. “Such an attention whore.” She didn't respond. She knew, but didn't care. I gently laid my hand upon her soft head before internally reciting an incantation;

_Familiarium transformationis, tolle fuga_

     With that, my hand began to glow with a soft gray light. As I felt Ramona's feathery form slowly dissolve, I abruptly moved my right hand out in front of my torso. The gray light that was once bunched up on my shoulder followed in suit with my hand and it formed a thin glowing beam of energy before me. Then I reached out my left hand over the floating ray of light and clasped my fingers around it. After a few moments of feeling light's warmth, it slowly began to fade away, until evaporating completely. However, in it's place, was a sturdy wooden handle with bristles on one end of it. That was probably the best thing about owning a familiar. They not only acted as a witch's companion, but they also could also be turned into useful tools. Sometimes it was a broom, other times it was a cloak. And when faced with danger, they could take the form of a witch's weapon, though what kind ultimately depended on your preference. Personally speaking, I've always had a fondness for swords. Nothing too big, but powerful enough to split a hair down the center.

     I let go of the broom and allowed it to hover for a moment before moving around it so that it was behind me. As if on cue, the broom lowered itself slightly to allow me to plant my backside on it. I then placed my hands on either side of the handle and gripped it tightly. Call me old fashioned, but I always preferred riding my broom in a saddle-side fashion. It just felt more comfortable for me when I was on patrol. Ramona slowly began to lift herself off of the ground when I stopped her. "Hey now," I said "I gotta put on a cloaking spell first, remember?" The broom jostled itself. "You're always too hasty Ramona." I shook my head at her as her movement slowly ceased and she resumed hovering in place. "You don't want them seeing us now do you?" But I knew her answer. Ramona was a very vain creature. Were it possible, she'd probably try to announce her presence to the entire world. That's how much she loved attention.

     She wiggled slightly beneath me, edging me to hurry up. "Oi oi." I chided her as I raised my left hand above my head and rotated it in a circle a series of times;

     Defensus sigillum clam leporem.

     The moment the last word filled my subconscious, a bright flash of silver light flashed above my head before slowly spilling out around us in the form of a soft mist. As it  cleared, I looked back down to Ramon and nodded my head in approval. "Alright birdbrain, let's hit the town."

     As we ascended into the sky, the rain slowly began to dissipate. We were relatively high above the roof of the complex before Ramona began to move forward at a cruising pace. We always tried to take it easy when we were out on watch for the night, just in case we found trouble. I worried that if I zipped around too quickly, there was a chance I would miss something, and I didn't want to run the risk of that happening. I breathed in the evening's wet spring air while we drifted slowly through the sky. I kept my eyes firmly planted on the cityscape below, scanning for any signs of trouble.

     It wasn't just Malix's gang I kept an eye out for. This town had a habit of attracting mischievous creatures and spirits, and every so often I would come across one wreaking havoc on the lives of confused and unsuspecting civilians. However, they were never anything too outrageous. The occasional poltergeist or troupe of troublesome fairies would somehow find their way into the city and do their best to raise some kind of commotion, but they were usually dealt with relatively quickly. The only time I can recall where things got a little too hairy was when a crazy religious cult set up a small church (though that word is a bit too charitable) near the downtown area. It was an old abandoned pawn shop, but these lunatics made it their safe haven. For a while, I thought nothing of their shenanigans and figured they'd just spend their evenings listening to industrial metal, wearing heavy amounts of eyeliner and just drink until the crack of dawn. Sadly, I misjudged them. They ended up kidnapping a few local girls from one of the inner city schools and tried to have their skin flayed open as a means of sacrifice so they could summon what they believed to be their God. Fortunately, I made it just before their leader had the chance to lay his knife on the first girl. I didn't kill the cultists however. While you could classify me as a vigilante of sorts, whenever I had a run in with human offenders, I'd always just render them temporarily blind with a flash-bang charm before giving them a good knock to the head with the butt of my sword. And this time with those zealots was no different.  And although a couple of them managed to get a jump on me (they hadn't been in the room when the spell was cast) ,they were swiftly disarmed with a few expertly timed strikes to the head. Sadly however, not all of the girls registered my warning for them to close their eyes quick enough. This led to a few of them being left temporarily impaired. Regardless, I called the police shortly before entering the building and hastily made my get away as they promptly cleaned up the remaining mess.

     There was also an incident about four or five years ago where I had a run in a pair of vampires who had recently been turned. They were a relatively young lesbian couple and I gathered by their clothing and affects, that they were on the run together. From whom I never gathered, as I ended up terminating them before I had the chance to inquire. Initially, I sympathized with their plight. The imense pain that comes over you when your entire body is forced to go through a physically demanding change...I knew that feeling all too well. And I wanted to give them the chance to escape and find their freedom. From what I've gathered over the years, Vampires get a pretty bad rap. I've met quite a few in my life time (though I'll admit, most of them were pretty old and had centuries of wisdom) and they always managed to find ways to adjust. Some would settle on the taste of livestock and other animals, others would steal from blood-banks. And there were those rare occasions where a vampire could find another human who was willing to help keep them fed, just so long as they didn't turn try them and only took what they needed. Sadly, that couple never got to discover their alternative. On the night I had discovered them, they begged me to let them go. But when I was getting ready to walk away, one of them was stirred by the scent of blood lingering in the midnight air. It was from a drunken vagrant who had taken a fall and busted his lip. That little cut caused one of women to go completely ballistic, and the other looked like she was on the verge of doing the same. So before they got the chance to drink the man dry, I sliced their heads clean off and set their bodies ablaze so they couldn't regenerate. I still lamented that the situation turned out the way it, but that was the catch with newly turned vampires; they were feral and easily set off by the smell of blood within a 10 mile radius. After that, I set out to try to find the culprit that changed them in the first place but...I never found them. Either they were long gone or they were an expert at covering their tracks and laying low.

     I shook my head to free myself of these recollections before gently rubbing my left hand against my face to shake off this restless feeling that overcame me. It was going to be a slow night.

     After what I estimated to be about an hour of gliding through the air, I looked down to Ramona. "Hey girl, mind taking us down a bit?" In response to my request, Ramona ever so slightly tilted herself forward and we gently began to descend from the crisp wet sky. I eventually tapped my finger against the wood, signaling her to stop. When she did, she then straightened herself back up and continued moving forward at a relatively brisk pace. I lowered my eyes and scanned the bustling streets below. Everything seemed pretty run-of-the-mill; couples were sauntering through the streets, children clung almost obsessively to their parents' hands and dogs tugged their masters forward, doing their best to sniff any and every surface within spitting distance. I pulled my gaze away to stare up at the crescent moon that had risen out of the haze of the parting clouds. It looked like old Cheshire himself was smirking down at me. I closed my eyes and slowly brought the chilled air in through my nostrils before letting out a heavy, agitated sigh. I needed a break from all of this. Than a sudden thought popped into my mind; Maybe I could take in some good R and R at Harold's. I mean, I knew he had intended for me to use the key to destroy his occult possessions (and to find his parting gift to me) but a part of me was tempted to just spend the weekend there so I could relax for a while. I bit down on my lower lip as I pondered the decision. After a few brief moments of mulling it over in my head, I decided to go for it. It'd only be the one time, I told myself. I mean, I figured Mika wouldn't be moving into the place until after graduation so...

     "Aw fuck it," I said aloud. "Why not?" So it was set. After school got out tomorrow, I'd pack my things and head straight to Harold's. I reached my hand into my jacket pocket to pull out my phone to check the time, but upon doing so, I realized I had forgotten it in my bag back home. I cursed to myself before tapping my finger against Ramona's wooden form once again. "Hey. There's a church about half a mile east. Mind heading there so I can check the time?" Upon my request she turned and began to move at a much faster pace towards church. When it was within viewing distance, I gave her frame a gentle squeeze with my hand. "Hey, this is it" I said and she slowed to a stop. The long, slender almost imposing fingers of the analog clock read 10:30 pm. Sheesh...I had been gliding around that long? I clasped my fingers together and raised my hands above my head to allow myself a small stretch. "Alright Ramona. Before we call it night, you mind having us swing by the outskirts of the forest? I wanna check in and see how Malix's is holding up." After about another ten minutes, we had reached the border that separated the city from Malix's territory. Ramona brought us down so steadily that I could sense she was reluctant. And I didn't blame her. I didn't want to be here anymore than she did, but after last night's mishap, I needed to see if he had calmed down, at least a little.  I gently hopped off of Ramona  and slipped my hands into my the left pocket of my jacket, pulling out a pair of black and leather finger-less gloves. After sliding each across my hand and pulling them tight to make sure they were snug, I reached  out one of my now gloved hands and placed  the very tips of my fingers on Ramona's wooden form.

     Tranformation factus nota herba!

     A soft silver light once again emanated from my palm and I swiftly shot my hand across Ramona's shape. As I did, her structure began to shift again. When the light vanished, the broom had been replaced by my sword; The Tempest Blade. In this form, she was approximately three feet in length, with a sturdy thick, brown leather bound grip and a black cross guard above it. However, the blade had a forked split at its point, which dipped until meeting the shoulder slightly above the cross-guard. The sword's pristine shine glimmered in the faint light being reflected by the moon. Before the silver glow from the spell completely faded, I  firmly took hold of the sword's grip. Upon doing so, I pulled my arm back and gingerly rested the flat end of the sword against my shoulder. "Well," I started, "Let's hope Malix doesn't mind the unexpected house call." 

     Malix's camp was roughly a mile into the forest,  and was nestled in an enclave of withered old trees that once surrounded a campsite. However, for whatever reason, the site had long since been abandoned. That was until Malix and his group showed up about 10 years ago. His gang mostly spent their time fucking around the woods, looking for unsuspecting couples, late night joggers and random pedestrians who got lost in the woods. However, they didn't feed off of the energy of these individuals. Unlike Demons, devils much preferred the taste of human flesh and bone, and it was often the case that once they found you, they'd promptly kill you so you wouldn't have the chance to scream for your life. Brutal, yes but at least your suffering ended quickly. But every so often you'd meet a devil who absolutely relished in making humans suffer before devouring them. And I feel Malix could have been classified as one of them had it not been for two factors; his girlfriend Eris keeping him in check, and the fact Malix was the type of devil who, despite how brash he was, did have an innate desire to extend his lifespan. What I mean is, he was stupid, but not stupid enough to go trampling around the city when he knew full well I'd be there to give him a hair-cut from the neck up. And more often than not, whenever an incident occurred, it was usually a result of one of his flunkies getting out of hand. 

     The path to Malix's camp was covered by unkempt amount of fallen leaves and rotting tree branches. So while making my way across the dirt road, I was met with the sound of crunching debris beneath my boots. _Stomp. Crunch. Snap._ This same series of sounds continued until I was thrown off guard by a different sound; a loud _crack_ followed by a stifled _crunch_. This caused me to look down and I moved my boot to the side to see what it was I had just crushed. Initially, I was expecting to see pieces from a broken beer bottle below. And while the culprit did turn out to be made of glass, it wasn't from a bottle. It was from a pair of glasses. Intrigued, I leaned down, balancing myself on the balls of my feet and picked up the mangled spectacles. Upon inspecting them, I saw tiny splotches of blood scattered across the now shattered lenses. I shifted my gaze back to the ground and noticed a few more red patches had stained the ground, which slowly grew into a scattered trail that traveled slightly past the way I had came. But from the looks of it, some of it had been covered up by more dead leaves, so it was hard to accurately pinpoint what direction the person (or persons) had gone. 

     However, this still set off some alarms in my head. If someone had gotten away from Malix and his group, it could spell some serious problems in the future. And while I was all for having them chased out of or taken in by some form of authority, I knew that devils never EVER liked going down without a fight. And if an angry mob or a SWAT team was alerted to the area, Malix would make sure to paint the forest red before either escaping, getting himself killed or being apprehended. Not wanting to run the risk of a future altercation, I pushed myself up off the ground and continued to make my way across the path to their camp. I also made sure to slip the broken glasses into my pocket.

     As I neared closer, the faint orange glow of their bonfire appeared in the distance. Upon finally reaching the entrance, I saw a large number of the devils lazily sprawled out across the ground and from the glazed, almost empty looks in their eyes, it looks like they had all taken a few hits from one of the many drugs they had in stashed away. Now, the effects of drugs varies with humans (and it depends on the drug in question). But pretty much every substance from heroin to meth garned the same reaction when it came to a devil using it. As Eris once described it, a majority of human drugs caused a severe slow down in the brain for devils. And given their previous patterns, they'd usually engage in substance abuse when recovering from a fight since it helped distract them from the pain. And as I got a closer look, almost all of them were endowed with various wounds, from bruises to cuts to burns. 

     Thankfully, this sort of worked in my favor; I wouldn't have to worry about a large number of them trying to jump me at once. While I carefully stepped around their lazily sprawled out bodies, I heard a loud shattering of glass coming from one of the large tents near the back of the clearing. This was followed by a shrill "God damn it Eris!"

     Upon hearing this, I recognized the voice of the gang's oh-so-courteous leader Malix. As he let out another series of insults, a visibly annoyed Eris burst from the tent. Upon her exit, her gaze met with mine and her face changed from frustration to what I could only guess was relief.

     "Good. You can deal with him now. I am not in the mood tonight." As she spoke, she pulled out a pack of cigarettes from her back pocket and stormed past me. I turned my head back and called out to her.

     "Hey! What the hell happened?"

     She ignored my question and kept walking before raising her left hand, middle finger extended. I just rolled my eyes and turned my sights back to the tent before moving forward and pushing the flaps open.

     I was immediately met with the sight of Malix's bloodied and tattered clothes spread across the floor. But before I could take another step, my attention was drawn to the sound of a harsh _click_. Malix was sitting up on his cot, right arm raised with his .500 S &W Magnum in hand and had it aimed directly towards my chest.

     "I ain't got time for your shit today Witch." 

     I simply stared back at him, my confidence unaffected by his attempts intimidate to me. My eyes scanned the rest of the scene. The floor was littered with bandages, bloody rags, and a shattered bottle of whiskey, which, judging by the smell and the fresh wet stain that been imprinted into the dirt that made up the tent floor, I gathered this was what set him off. I heard Malix curse, which caused me to dart my eyes back up at him. His fiery orange torso had been wrapped up with gauze, but not enough to where it hid all of the deep gashes that littered his body. And his left arm had been wrapped up and was hanging in a make-shift sling that looked to have been made using an old t shirt.

     "I said, I ain't got time for your shit. Don't tell me your deaf now," He let out a harsh cough and a small trickle of blood ran down his lower lip. After licking it clean, he continued, "Fuck. Fuck! FUCK! My day has been a complete shit show. And the last thing I need is your skanky ass stinking up the place." He winced and quickly lowered his gun to clutch his ribs. "Fuck...!"

     I cocked my head lazily to the side. "Wow Malix. I'm impressed. Someone actually handed you your ass on a golden platter. Best I could ever do was silver."

     Malix only growled at me in response before raising his arm back up to once again aim the gun at me. 

     "Now, you wanna stop being a gun-ho little shit heel and tell me what the fuck is going on?"

     "Me and my boys just decided to rough house a bit, that's all," he said. However, given the look on my face, he knew I didn't believe him. 

     "Really? Because you guys usually hand out the party favors only after there's been a scuffle."

     Malix's grip on his gun tightened and I could see it start to shake a little. Malix knew he wouldn't last 20 seconds with me given the state he was in. And since most of his lackey's were indisposed and Eris clearly didn't have any mind to defend him, that significantly lowered his chances of survival. He let out a defeated grunt before lowering his gun to his side, which I took as an opportunity to make my way further inside the tent. 

     "This afternoon," he began, "We got jumped."

     "I gathered as much. What, a bear mistake your face for a cherry pie?"

     "You want a fucking answer or not?" He flashed me a nasty look. 

     "Calm down Malix. I don't get to enjoy the sight of you like this very often. Let me savor it."

     "Keep being a cheeky cunt Underwood. See how far that gets you."

     "Alright alright," I let out a disappointed sigh before placing a gloved hand on my hip. "I'm listening."

     Malix leaned himself back and rested against a small pile of pillows that were behind him. "It was a group of punks from out of town. They looked lost so we figured we'd try to ambush em. But, somehow, they anticipated it. When we charged in, they were already on the defensive."

     I raised my eyebrow. "Anticipated it?"

     "Yeah," he responded flatly, letting out another groan of discomfort.

     "How in the hell did a bunch of humans mana-"

     "I never said they were human," he spat. "Let me finish. They were fucking demons"

     My eyes widened as I stared back at Malix in shock. "What?"

     He smirked, "Oh I'm sorry. I forget demon was your trigger word."

     I swiftly pulled my sword from my shoulder and swung it in Malix's direction until the forked tips were mere inches from his throat. Malix's face filled with panic as I did, and his hand clutched at the grip on his hand cannon.

     "Want me to re-open up some of those wounds? Or would you prefer I make new ones?"

     The red-skinned devil bit down on his lower lip and his eyes filled with a fiery anger. 

     "I'm waiting," I said, my voice unwavering. After a few more seconds of silence, I moved slightly forward until both pointed ends of my sword brushed up against his flesh. 

     A low growl reverberated in his throat as he mumbled, "Fine fine...For fucks sake."

     I cautiously lowered my sword back to my side, never once taking my eyes off of his. He swallowed hard before continuing "Like I said, there were five of em. I think think one of em could detect your location and that's why they were prepared when we came out of hiding. Though I'm still not totally clear on that. Shit is still a bit hazy. But..." His voice trailed off.

     Growing impatient, I readied to raise my sword to his throat again. "But what?"

     He shot me smirk. "They were incubi."

     I froze, my fingers tightening around the grip of my blade as those words left his lips. 

     "Whoops. My mistake. THAT was your trigger word." He let out a satisfied chuckle. 

     "Keep pushing it Malix. Or do you want to lose your trigger-pulling hand?"

     His laughter slowed to a stop before he continued. "Anyway, I managed to get in a few good licks with Lucy here," He nodded his head towards his gun, "But they ended up getting away in the scuffle. One of em had like....this weird fire based ability. The flames were pitch black and he made a wall of the stuff to slow us down. By the time we had gotten around it, they were outta sight." He chuckled. "But I promise you, when I stop feeling like shit, those fuckers are as good as dead."

     I glowered down him. "You know the arrangement Malix. One foot in the city and I'll-"

     "Bitch, you really think I fucking care about your little fucking agreement? Those punks trespassed. And on top of that, look what they did to me and my men. How would you like it of a band of traveling ass holes broke into your place and beat the shit out of you?"

     "I don't care what your reasoning is, Malix," I reached into my jacket pocket and fished out the pair of broken lenses. "Did one of the guys happen to be wearing glasses?"

     Malix glanced at the amalgamation of glass and metal in my hand. "Fuck man....I think? Like I said, it's still a bit cloudy." He let out a small series of coughs before clutching at his side once again. I slipped the glasses back into my pocket.

     "Look," I started. "I don't want things getting out of hand alright? If you want to continue to live here, you have to obey the rules of the agreement." He just stared back at me and he tried to maintain his composure. But I could see the tired look in his eyes. I think more than anything, he just wanted me gone so he could rest. 

     "Shit..." he murmured.

     "Malix, look. This can play out in one of two ways. The first is you go after these punks, and either get your ass kicked again, which I think is likely mind you, or you call unnecessary attention to yourselves. The second is that you let me handle this. Which I think is the better option since you and your guys aren't exactly experts in the art of subtly."

     Malix removed his hand from his gun and run his fingers through his matted white hair. "Arrrghh...! Fine."

     "Good," I said flatly and turned on my heel to exit the tent.

     "But-" he began, "If you haven't killed those fuckers by the time me and my guys have recovered-"

     I stopped him from finishing "You KNOW what will happen."

     "Yeah. But I don't fucking care. If you drag your bony ass on this, than it's gonna be a fucking bloodbath."

     I turned and looked Malix dead in the eyes. The look I shot him caused his entire body to stiffen. "I promise I will handle it. And you know full well I am never one to break my word."

     I turned my back to him again before pulling the flap aside and exiting the tent. But before I could get very far, Malix howled with laughter. "Try not to get distracted if you see them swinging bigger swords than you! Who knows, maybe you'll be less of an uppity bitch if you let someone break that cunt of yours!"

     I furrowed my brow before sliding my left arm back between the flaps and a soft white light began to form in the palm. 

     "Eh?" I heard him say. 

_Defensus leporem minimo._

     A split second later the tent filled with a bright flash, which was shortly followed by an angry howl from Malix.

     "My fucking eyes! You crazy cunt! The next time I see you I am gonna blow your fucking brains out!"

     I ignored Malix's threats and stormed back across the camp to the entrance. His subordinates only seemed mildly interested in the angry rantings of their leader, as they only lifted their heads for a brief moment before returning their eyes back to the stars. Before exiting the clearing, I saw Eris leaning up against one of the trees with a cigarette pressed against her lips. She didn't seem the least bit concerned that I had just temporarily blinded her boyfriend. Our eyes met for a brief moment and she just nodded to me.

     "He'll be fine in about an hour or so." I said. However, she didn't respond so I took my leave. 

\----------------------------------------------------

     I climbed back in through the window and crawled over to my bed before landing face first onto it. Ramona flew in shortly after, happy that she was now free to flap her wings around again and make a racket. I grabbed one of my pillows and pulled it over my head to block out her excited cawing. Damn it. Why did it have to be demons? On top of that, fucking incubi no less. It would have been one thing if it had been an imp or or something. Hell, Gorgons would have been preferable to fucking incubi. If it was one thing I hated more than demons in general, it was incubi. Those, slimy, silver tongued bastards. At least with one of their lesser cousins, you knew what to expect, at least for the most part. Sure they were crafty little buggers, but they'd more than likely try to find an opening to escape rather than finish a fight. If you had all of your bases covered, you'd usually be able to take one out no problem. However, it's with incubi that things get tricky. Your standard demon is far less predictable than a devil. Devils rely mostly on their brute force and power. But an incubus will play it smart and keep things at a distance while looking for an opening to strike or escape. And that was usually the case if you weren't someone they wanted to feed off of. Incubi were creatures who fed on a person's positive life force. They especially had an affinity for sexual energy, but other forms such as friendship or romantic would do just fine.

     But if you were someone they were engaged in combat with? Well, unless the incubus in question was seriously twisted, they wouldn't bother feeding off of you. From I gather, if they absorb high amounts of negative energy (such as anger or sadness) it can be toxic for them. But that doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the upper hand, oh no. It's entirely possible that absorbing too much of your negative vibes can lead to them going completely ballistic. 

     Now if you were someone that they decided to feed on, well...Than you're fucked. Not only are they incredibly witty, they also have hypnotic powers they will use to persuade their victims in willing giving themselves up. And like I said before, while these bastards have an affinity for sexual energy in particular, they are greedy enough to eat whatever they can get their filthy hands on. The point is, they'd suck you bone dry before leaving you an empty husk, wasting way on your bedroom floor...

     I rolled over onto my back and let out a muffled grunt into my pillow. More shit to add onto the pile. As I sat up and lowered the pillow from my face, I saw that Ramona had nestled herself back into her cage. Her beak was rested comfortably against her feathered torso. I combed my fingers through my matted dark green hair before leaning back against the mattress once again. I'd take care of it once I fulfilled Harold's request, found my gift and had myself a nice vacation. With those thoughts lingering in my mind, I slid my eyes shut as the comforting embrace of sleep overtook me. 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know the game is coming out today, but I'm going to wait to play it until after I've finished this fic. I wanna stay focused on finishing this before I form new ideas for its sequel XD Yes, I plan to have a sequel to this, and I'll try to have follow the plot of Seduce Me 2. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this installment. I'll try to pump out chapter three over the weekend. Peace out my lovelies~


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith is awakened by an intense nightmare. As she leaves for school, she is unaware of two demon siblings observing her from the building next door. After school, Faith arrives at the Anderson manor, only to discover that not only has Mika already moved in, she has five male guests residing with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the delay. I was sick over the weekend and finally got a chance to finish this chapter. It's way longer than the previous two...I am predicting a pattern here. Also, know the sequel recently came out, but I am going to avoid playing it until after I finish my fanfiction. I don't want to get overwhelmed by new ideas...

     It was around 3:00 in the morning when a new torrent of rain began to violently pelt the roof of the complex. The moon and what little light it was casting was now completely shrouded by the clouds. This left Faith's room, save for the soft glow of her clock, almost entirely veiled in darkness. As she slept, her breathing was steady and she had rolled from being flat on her back to being curled up on her side. The past 12 hours had left her emotionally drained, but you couldn't tell by how content her face looked while she slept. 

_Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!_

     Faith was violently torn from her slumber by the sounds of her familiar's frantic whaling. She sat up and darted her eyes around the room, though given how it was coated primarily in shadow, she was unable to immediately spot her animal friend. However, after her eyes adjusted, she could see Ramona flailing her wings against the front door. Feeling a mixture of both annoyance and confusion, Faith stood up off of her bed and walked over to pick the bird. 

     "What's gotten into you? Do you have any idea what time it is?" She scolded. 

     The bird wriggled in her owners hands, but steadily, her cries ceased. Faith pulled her companion in close and gently ran her finger across her throat. "Easy, easy..." She cooed. Ramona's spastic movements slowed until her entire body relaxed. When the bird was finally at ease, Faith gently placed her feathered friend back in her cage. As she locked the it, there was suddenly a violent knock at her door. Cautiously, she approached the door and pressed her ear against it.  _Who'd be knocking at this ho-?_

_Bang bang bang!_

     Startled, Faith jumped slightly away from the door.  _Maybe it's one of the other tenants, stumbling around the hallway again..._

     She gently leaned her ear against the wood again, listening intently for any other sounds or movement, but there was nothing. After a few moments of silence, she moved back and hesitantly placed her hand on the knob and turned it open. But she was only met with another, directly across from her room. Poking her head out into the hall, she turned her head to first the left, and then the right. But it was completely empty, save for the soft light emanating from the fixtures embedded in the ceiling. Letting out a relieved sigh, she pulled her head back inside before closing the door and locking it.  _Maybe they found their apartment and wandered off...or I'm just tired and I.._.Her thoughts trailed off as she looked back to her bed. She was suddenly overcome with the urge to return to bed and not ponder her thoughts anymore. 

     She dropped like a stone onto her bed and waited for sleep to consume her again. But it didn't, so she rolled over onto her back in an attempt to get more comfortable. Still, her attempts at sleep were met with failure. As her eyes slid open so she could re-position herself a second time, a sudden and horrifying realization dawned on her; Her entire body was overcome by some form of severe paralysis. She couldn't even find the strength to waggle one of her fingers.  _What the hell?_   _Why can't I-?_

     Her thoughts were cut off when her eyes fell upon the tall, shadowy figure that stood beside her bed. From the little light there was, Faith deduced the figure was a human in shape, but she couldn't tell who it was. She attempted to open her mouth to scream, but no sound escaped her lips. It was if her vocal chords weren't functioning. Suddenly, she could feel an intense tightening feeling building across her body, almost as if she were being squeezed by a boa constrictor. Faith tried to pull her eyes away, but her gaze seemed forcibly transfixed on the figure in front of her. The thing, whatever it was, slowly slinked closer, until it was staring directly down into her eyes. Even the light of the clock didn't highlight any of its features. It just stood there, motionless for a good long while. 

     Faith attempted to raise her voice again, but she was once again met with failure. Upon seeing her feigned efforts to call for help, a small slit crawled its way along the figure's face. And this slit slowly curled up and began to split open, revealing a sickeningly twisted smile. Faith's eyes began to fill with fear as the creature's lips widened so unnaturally, that it began to resemble a Glasgow smile, which was accompanied by a row of razor sharp teeth. 

     Faith's heart began to hammer vigorously in her chest cavity, to the point where she felt it could burst at any moment. This wasn't helped by the swelling contractions that continued to compress her body. It was as if all of the gravity that encompassed the known universe was pressing down on her, and that she was going to be completely flattened by it. Her eyes (which were the only thing she could actually move) shifted to Ramona's cage. What she saw absolutely horrified her; Ramona's body was a lifeless pile on the floor of the cage. She immediately turned her head back up to the figure, only to see what looked like a closed fist, raised above its head. Faith's eyes widened to the size of dinner plate, but once again, she found herself completely mute. The black shape then brought down its fist, slamming it violently into the young woman's skull. The last thing Faith sensed was before everything faded to black was a loud, savage crack, followed by the feeling of her skull collapsing in on itself.

\-----------------------------------------------------

     Faith shot up from her bed, her lungs desperately trying to take in the surrounding air and her face entirely drenched in sweat. Upon realizing she was now awake in her bedroom, she feverishly ran her hands across her face, inspecting it for any sign of trauma or damage. After a few moments, she moved her trembling fingers through her hair, which was slightly damp due to the sweat. When her breathing finally calmed, she raised her head and surveyed the room. Ramona was still inside her cage, resting contently on her perch. Faith quickly scurried over to her and lightly tapped her still shaking finger against the metal bars. 

     "H-hey girl? Y-you alright?" Her voice trembled as she spoke. 

     Ramona raised her head and merely blinked her beady eyes in Faith's direction.  _She seems just fine...I guess it really was just a dream._

     Faith reached her hand into the bag of bird seed and opened the cage to sprinkle it inside. Ramona let out an excited chirp before leaping from her perch to dig into her breakfast. Faith smiled  weakly before turning her head to check the clock. It read 10:45 am.

     "Oh Shit!" She was late. 

     Faith quickly grabbed all of her things and scurried out the door at lightening speed.

     However, unbeknownst to her, there were two figures standing on the complex opposite her building, watching through her open window as she ran out the door. 

\-----------------------------------------------------

     "You think that was a bit too intense?" A young man said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. He pulled a cigarette from his pack and proceeded to light it. He was somewhat of a lanky gentleman, with straight, golden hair that was tied into a small ponytail. He wore a dark brown trench coat. His sleeves were rolled up loosely around his elbows and he wore a plain white button up dress shirt underneath. As his coat tail billowed in the morning air, he slipped his cigarette packet back into his dark brown pants, which were being held up by a part of black suspenders. He looked over to the woman sitting down on the ledge beside him, who was idly kicking her legs.

     "Charlotte?" The man piped up, "Earth to Charlotte."

     The young woman's deep sea foam green eye looked up to meet the piercing blue orbs that belonged to her elder brother. Charlotte was a petite woman with dark brown ringlets in her hair. Rested atop her chocolate locks was a purple headband that held a little black bow attached to its side. And covering her left eye was a black eye-patch. She wore an above-the-knee purple dress with white lantern sleeves, followed by a white turtlenecked neckline with a black clasp tightly securing it. And at the very end of the skirt, was a lacy white fringe. She leaned back to cross her legs, which had black and white knee-high socks and a pair of black Mary-Janes. 

     "I apologize Alister. I was distracted."

     Alister plopped down to sit beside Charlotte. "By?"

     "Her. Leaving. I wanted to be completely assured she had gone"

     "Well, you never answere-"

     "No," she interjected. "I do not believe our actions were too harsh. Though I could detect the sarcasm in your voice. Personally, I felt the overwhelming desire to take it further."

     Alister let out a hardy laugh. "You're so twisted." 

     "Hmph," She turned her gaze away from him, looking back to the building across from their location. "That's the pot calling the kettle black, big brother. Or has it escaped you that you that you were the one who birthed this elaborate scheme?"

     "Relax," he said, his voice softening, "I was just teasing you."

     She did not reply. Alister reached his had up to gently to playfully on one of her brown curls. "Hey now. Don't give me the silent treatment."

     Charlotte gave her brother a perturbed look before asking, "Care you elaborate on what the next part of your plan is?" The flatness of her voice suggested a level of irritation. 

     "Hmm....I'm sort of playing it by ear. I sort of wanted to test to see if your powers of illusion would work on a witch."

     "I gathered that much."

     "I think we need to wait for a proper opening. Remember, given that she just woke up from a nightmare, I imagine she will be much more alert right now. And we can't run the risk of her soul shard getting damaged."

     "You explain all of this as if I am not fully aware of that fact. I do not appreciate condescension Alister."

     Alister pulled his cigarette from his lips and exhaled a small wisp of smoke. "Sorry. I guess for now...we just keep our distance and just wait. We also gotta figure out how we're gonna find a portal back home."

     Charlotte nodded, "Ah, that's the rub."

     "Until we figure that bit out, we can just stay in the shadows."

     "Do you even know if your plan will work?"

     "Hmmm?"

     "With her soul shard. You said it's never actually been tested before. If the Demon king isn't impressed..."

     "Don't worry. I have a means to test it first."

     "And if hers isn't powerful enough?"

     "Given that she's had it for around 300 years, I'd wager that her shard has grown quite powerful."

     She let out a soft giggle, "It's quite amusing."

     "What is?"

     "That the girl you have set your sights on...It just so happens to be her."

     "I find it an even funnier coincidence that you ended up being the one she sold her soul to all those years ago."

     She turned back to Alister and gave him a playful wink, "You sure you don't want to find another witch? At least then you wouldn't have to hang around your pesky little sister."

     "Well, you are a brat..." Charlotte's perky smile immediately gave way to a pout. "Hey! You said it, not me!"

     "Maybe brother should go find another demon..."

     "Why the hell would I do that? That'd just be a hassle."

     "I am sure you could find another demon, no problem."

     "Charl, I can hear the envy in your voice..." He reached his arm over and placed it on Charlotte's shoulder. "You really wanna make my job more difficult?"

     "No..." Charlotte looked down at the ground below. "I just...It's her. The one you..."

     "Hey hey. You remember what I did to her, don't you? She was just a temporary resource. It didn't mean a thing. Besides, once we get a hold of the shard, she is going to die anyway. You know that. 

     Charlotte continued to pout before firmly crossing her arms.

     "Charlotte...You trust me don't you?"

     "If I didn't, would I be assisting you?" Her playful smile slowly returned to her lips. 

     Alister just smirked before pulling his little sister in and giving her a soft kiss on her forehead. "So spoiled..."

     Charlotte giggled before standing up. "Come on," she said, "I am in the mood for breakfast. That illusion was quite the chore to perform. And you, my dear Alister will be buying."

     Alister followed suit with his sister. "Alright alright. I guess it's the least I can do for my precious little Charlotte."

     The two siblings locked their arms as they began to make their way off the roof. 

  


\----------------------------------------------------

     I ended up arriving to school around 11:15 AM. When I slinked my way into economics, Mrs. Phillips had her back turned. Maybe she wouldn't notice if I ju-

     "You're late Miss Underwood. Please take out a piece of paper, we are about to take a quiz."

     I let out a groan before dropping down into my seat. It was going to be long day.

     After we handed in our quizzes, I turned my attention to Mika. I was relieved to notice that she looked a little bit better. However, something else caught my eye; she had appeared to be a faint bruise on her left cheek. Had something happened? I honestly wouldn't have put it past her dad to lash out at her. Harold told me his son resented Mika and the close relationship she had with her grandpa. 

     As the bell rang, instead of running to the door, Suzu immediately moved to her friends side, with a friendly grin and a hug. Naomi soon followed suit. I smiled to myself, feeling a bit more at ease knowing she had her friends to help console her. I stood up and briskly walked over to and was immediately met by their curious glances.

     "Hey um...Mika? I heard about your grandpa. And I wanted to offer my condolences."

     Both Suzu and Naomi widened their eyes in bewilderment but Mika's face remained planted with confusion. 

     "How did you...?" Mika began.

     Shit. I hadn't thought that far. "I uh...Well, he was a pretty high profile guy. I saw it in the paper this morning." Phew. Don't know if the paper had published it, but I was hoping my fib at least sounded convincing.

     "Oh...I see. Well, thank you very much. Really Faith. That's so kind of you."

     "Hey well...It's really no problem. I know what it's like to lose a family member you care about.." 

     "If you don't mind me asking...Who did you lose?" She asked.

     "I...umm..." I stared off thoughtfully for a moment. It felt weird since I hadn't mentioned the subject in such a long time. I looked back to Mika, her emerald green eyes staring at me with concern. "My little sister..."I finally uttered out.

     All three of the girls gasped in unison before Suzu spoke up. "Man, I am so sorry. I have a little sister too and I don't know how I'd react if I lost her."

     "Yes. That must be horrible. How did it happen?" Naomi's soft voice piped up. 

     "She um..." I nervously chewed on the skin of my lower lip. I couldn't tell them the truth. They'd think I was crazy. "My family and I went on beach trip one summer. I was around 7 and my sister was 10. She got pulled out by the undertow and well..." 

     Mika interrupted, "You don't have to say another word. I can only imagine how horrifying that must have been for you Faith."

     "Yeah well, time makes it easier. I mean, we were never really close, but my parents were both pretty shaken by it. They still haven't fully recovered." A part of me felt a pang of guilt for lying. Mika was so kind, I felt like I wanted to break down and tell her everything. Maybe it was her personality or the fact that she was related to Harold, but something about being in her presence just made me want to open up to her.

     "Still. My deepest apologies. And thank you for your kind words for my grandfather..."

     "Hey no problem!" I sheepishly rubbed the back of my neck. "Anyway, it's lunch time so I'll catch you guys around." I quickly began to turn before Mika spoke up again. 

     "Faith wait!" 

     I looked back to Mika with one eyebrow raised. "Would you like to join us for lunch?" She asked. My eyes widened.

     "W-what?" I stuttered out. 

     She repeated the question and I just stood there, mouth agape. This caused a somewhat sad look to appear on her face. Did she think I was upset by her request?

     "I'd love to! But I..." I really didn't have a reason to NOT join them but it had been a while since I had actually socialized with others for long periods of time. Sure, there was the occasional conversation with K but, those were usually pretty one sided. A part of me wanted to say yes. But the other side of me felt I would just make the whole venture incredibly awkward. I lowered my head and politely declined before grabbing my stuff and rushing out. I didn't even get the chance to hear her reply before I was out the door.

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     As I finished eating the last few bites of my BLT, I pondered what I'd say to Mika the next time I saw her. I had bolted so fast that I didn't even consider just how big of an ass hole I looked. I finished the sandwich before tilting my head up to the sky. It was much clearer today. It almost made me forget all that had transpired in the past 13 hours. I closed my eyes and tried to process it all; Harold's death, his request, his gift, Malix's condition, those demons...and now that nightmare. I felt less guilty now about spending the weekend at his estate. I wondered if he had kept my room intact or if he ended up turning it into a spare closet. And with any luck, I'd be able to get his secret hot spring up and running. It would do my muscles some good.

     I heard the bell ring for next period and I reluctantly stood up to make my to my next set of classes.

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     I returned home to the sound of Ramona lightly cooing in her cage. She seemed to be in much better sorts than I was. I was a little envious.

     "You're excited to head to Harold's, aren't you girl?" Ramona flapped her wings eagerly in response. "Well, I hope you can wait just a bit longer. I'm exhausted and I'm going to have a nap before I pack my stuff, alright?" She ruffled her feathers a bit, but she didn't make any sort of noise in protest.

     I threw my bag off my shoulder and collapsed crumpled onto my bed. I was asleep within minutes.

     When I was aroused from my slumber, the sun was already low in the sky. It would be dark soon. 

     Getting up from my bed, I pulled out a rolling suitcase I had stowed underneath it. I ended up filling it with a few change of clothes, my swimsuit, a hairbrush, my phone and my laptop charger, my laptop, a couple of books and my toothbrush. I figured I'd have plenty of towels at Harold's, so I didn't bother packing any. Upon closing it up, I heard Ramona squawk at me. I traveled over to her cage and picked it up. "You ready to go girl?" Ramona squawked with delight.

     I opened the door and was about to close it behind me when I realized I didn't have my phone on me again. I didn't bring it with me to school that morning due to my being in rush. I wasn't going to forget it a third time. I darted back inside and grabbed it before shutting and locking the door behind me. 

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     I exited the cab and handed the driver a $20 bill for the fair. 

     Keep the change," I said as I hastily made my way down the street towards the Anderson estate. I figured if had been dropped off directly in front of the mansion, it have would raise some level of suspicion. To help get around this, I had the driver drop me off a few houses away. I stepped very slowly, biding my time until the cab had pulled away from the curb, drove past me and was successfully out of sight. As its rear lights vanished on the horizon, I quickened my pace until I reached the imposing metal gates that stood at the entrance of the Anderson manor. It had been over a year since I had last seen the place in all of its grandeur, and I felt a weird tinge of sadness in my heart as I realized this would be my first time alone in this big empty place. And given that Mika would be inheriting this place soon, she'd come to understand that awkward feeling.

     As I was about to slide the key into the lock on the gate, I noticed that it was already slightly ajar. Perplexed, I slowly pushed it open and my attention was immediately drawn to the fact that there still seemed to be lights radiating through the windows of the large estate. 

     "What the hell...?" I muttered aloud to myself. Maybe when Harold had died, someone had been in such a rush to prepare his body for a funeral, that they left the lights on. Or...Maybe someone had broken in? No, they wouldn't be dumb enough to leave the lights on like that. As I drew closer, I didn't see any movement from the windows, but the curtains were drawn. 

     I finally reached the door and jimmied the handle. Locked. Maybe someone really had left the lights on when they took Harold's body away and had just forgotten to lock the gate. In my mind, it made sense. Most people I knew were conscious about locking doors. But your average person didn't have a gate (as far as I knew) so I reasoned the paramedics just didn't think to re-lock the gate upon leaving the premises. I mean, unless they wheeled him out the back, which would make absolutely no sense. I slipped my key into the door and pulled it out as soon as I heard a resounding  _click!_

     When I pushed the door open, I heard the distinct sounds of voices echoing from inside. I froze and tried to listen in, but the voices were too faint to make out properly. I was about to take a step back when Ramona suddenly burst from the cage, letting out distressed caws and flapping her wings sporadically. I tried to pull her back, but before I knew it, she had slipped between the crack in the door. "Shit...Ramona!"

     I looked down at the cage. I must have forgotten to properly secure the latch when I left. That or she was sneakier than I gave her credit for, and managed to pull the latch up from the inside. I could hear the voices rise, clearly surprised by the sudden intrusion by a random buzzard. That's when I heard a soft, feminine voice that I immediately recognized.

     "It's just a crow! It must have come in through the window!" It was Mika. Shit. She moved in already? Why? I didn't have time to dwell on it, however, as I heard another voice. But again, their voice was too far away to make out what they were saying.

     "No! Don't worry! I'll take care of it! You guys keep eating!"

     You guys? Did she have Naomi and Suzu over or something? I suppose it made sense. If you suddenly inherit a giant mansion, might as well throw a sleepover. I leaned in, my eye catching a glance of Mika in the gap in the door as she made her way over to the stairway banister where Ramona had landed.

     "Well, now how did you get in here?" She giggled, slowly reaching her hand out to Ramona. I didn't expect her to react so calmly to a random raven flying into her home.

     "You're a pretty one, aren't you?" Mika complimented to Ramona. And Ramona, easily swayed by attention, perked up when she realized Mika was speaking to her. It was to the point where Mika was able to get close enough to reach her hand over to gently stroke the top of her feathery head, to which Ramona was pleased by. I narrowed my eyes at Ramona. That damn bird was going to get me into trouble. Ramona then perched herself up on the Mika's arm, to which the young woman seemed pleased by, because she let out another soft chuckle.

     I realized this would probably be the best time for me to make my escape. Slowly, I began to back up. However, before I even got 3 steps in, Ramona let out another series of squawks, which startled me and my foot ended up missing one of the landings behind me. As a result, I took a tumble. 

     "Fuck!" I exclaimed, landing on my fear end. After rubbing my hand against my bottom to sooth it, I saw the light from the hallway casually widen. As I looked up, I saw Mika standing there, with Ramona now sitting atop her shoulder. Mika stared at me, eyes wide and her mouth ajar. I could feel an awkward weight settling over us. 

     After what felt like an hour of silence, Mika spoke. "Faith? What are you doing here...?"

"I uh..." My brain was drawing a blank on what to say. Mika turned her head slightly, and her eyes spied Ramona's cage and my suitcase. This caused her brow to furrow slightly. 

     I immediately pulled myself up. "Wait wait! Listen...I...Shit." I took a deep breath and looked Mika dead in the eyes. But before I could continue, her attention was drawn to the key sitting in the door lock. She pulled it out and examined it.

     "How did you...?"

     "I knew your grandfather!" I blurted out.

     Mika looked back at me, a look of shock planted on her face. 

     I sighed. I felt utterly exasperated by the past 24 hours. Damn it Ramona. We could have avoided all of this..."I know it sounds bizarre. But if you'd let me explain..." I expected her to reject my pleading and just force me to leave. But to my surprise, she nodded and motioned her arm to invite me inside. Initially, I was stunned and I remained motionless. But she nodded her head to the side, again trying to signal to me that I had her permission to enter. I quickly scurried to pick up my suitcase and the cage before stepping inside, an anxious pressure welling up in my stomach. 

     As Mika shut the door behind her, the other voices became a bit more clear. There sounded to be at least three. But what caught my attention was they sounded...male. I raised an eyebrow, pondering who the voices could possibly belong to. Maybe one of them was her father....?

     My thoughts were interrupted and I snapped back to attention when I heard the click of the front door. Mika turned to me. Her soft green eyes were filled with a mixture of confusion, curiosity and concern. 

     "So...I'm assuming this bird belongs to you?" She asked.

     I laughed sheepishly "Yeah...Her name is Ramona." Ramona puffed her feathers and let out a little chirp upon hearing her name. 

     After another few moments of awkward silence, I broke it by speaking up. "I'm just gonna lay it all out on the table. I was in a rut about a year ago. I was having some problems with my parents and I...I got kicked out. I was stuck sleeping on benches in public parks. And in one evening in particular, Harol- Mr. Anderson bought me a hot meal. When I told him my story, he took pity on me and offered to let me stay with him until I got back on my feet. I eventually worked things out with my parents and went back home..." I caught my breath. Truthfully, I was impressed that I was able to pull that entire story out of my ass. But once again, there was that swelling feeling of guilt sitting in my gut. That was my second lie to  her. A second lie in one day and I barely knew her. If I ever wanted to be her friend, I was not off to a fantastic start.

     Mika just stared at me, trying to process all that I had just told her. Did she buy it? 

     "I still have two questions," she said "First, how come I never saw you when I came to visit? And why didn't my grandpa mention you?"

     I froze. Admittedly, it did sound suspect. "I only stayed for a few weeks. And usually when you were here, I kept myself locked away in the guest room he had for me. I didn't want to make things awkward...And in other instances, I'd be out job hunting until late in the evening. You were always asleep when I returned...Which I guess worked out for the best."

     "And where was your guest room?"

     I pointed up the stairs. "Second floor, 5th door on the right."

     "I see." I had the feeling she was going to check the room to see if there was any proof of my claim. "My second question is, how did you get this key?" Seems Mika wasn't all that great at keeping count...that was technically her fourth question.

     "He sent it to me when he died. He invited me to return here..."

     "But why?" Her eyes narrowed. 

     "He said he had a gift for me. Told me to come by personally in order to pick it up."

     "Do you have any idea what kind of gift it was? I could retrieve it for you."

     "See, that's the thing. He didn't specify. He left it vague but he said I'd know it as soon as I saw it. You know how he was, loved his games."

     Mika's eyes softened and a look of fondness formed on her face. Harold was always one for jokes, something, I imagined, she had a great deal of experience with.

     "Listen," I said. "I also wanted to spend the weekend here while I looked around for my gift. I promise that if I don't find it by Sunday evening, I'll be gone."

     Mika tilted her head. "Faith...you don't have to worry. I know my grandfather was a kind soul. And you have his key..." She reached out and handed the key back to me. "So I believe you, ok? Besides, your unexpected visit oddly enough is NOT the weirdest thing to happen to me today."

     I pocketed the key. Now it was my turn to look confused. "What do-"

     Crash! "God damn it Matthew! I had dibs on that! Now look what you've done!"

     I turned sharply, my eyes traveling towards the dining room. Ramona, just as startled by the noise, flapped her wings and leaped from Mika's arm to my left shoulder. 

     "I see you have guests." I said.

     Mika laughed nervously. "Yes um..." 

     "Sam! Come on! I said I was sorry!" Another voice interrupted. This one sounded a bit younger than the first. 

     "Um. Could you excuse me for just a moment?" Mika spoke nervously before running past me and into the dining room.

\------------------------------------------------------

     As Mika excused herself and hurried out of the room to the front door, another loud squawking noise echoed from the entrance hall. Damien stared quietly as he watched her go. A tiny blush rose up on his cheeks as he noticed the small sway of her hips. He quickly turned his gaze away, trying to distract himself from impure thoughts. He had regained some of his energy from coming in contact with her before as well as from some of the food he had eaten. However, he acknowledged that he still felt a small pang of hunger within him. 

     Matthew and Sam had returned to devouring their meal. Matthew dug his teeth into a large piece of garlic bread and his older brother shoveled shrimp pesto into his ravenous maw. 

     James let out an irritated exhale, rubbing his fingers against the bridge of his nose. "Would it kill you two to have SOME manners?"

     Erik let out a chuckle at his elder brothers' frustration. "Oh come now James. They were doing relatively decently when the Princess was in the room." He popped a fork full of green noodles into his mouth. 

     "Oh yes," James retorted sarcastically "A whole 10 minutes. What an impressive feat." Before James could continue his lecture, he noticed that Damien had a rather intense look on his face. "Damien, is something the matter?" 

     "It's the mistress. She's speaking to someone. There was someone at the door and they both seem surprised to see each other..."

     "Hmmm?" Matthew directed his attention to his little brother. "Whro ist ett?"

     James glared at his younger brother. "Swallow your food Matthew."

     On cue, Matthew immediately gulped the food that he had been chewing before speaking up again "Who is it?"

     "I'm not sure..." Damien's voice softened "But they do know each other."

     "Oh well, that's a relief!" Erik spoke. "I was worried we'd have to another fight on our hands."

     Damien smiled and closed his eyes, allowing the inner thoughts of Mika and the stranger in the entrance hall to fill his mind. As he did, his siblings went back to engaging with one another.

     Sam's voice rose up as he finally removed his face from his bowl. "Hey! Dibs on that last piece of garlic bread!" However, as he said that, Matthew had just taken the plate that held the final sacred slice from golden brown loaf. 

     "Too slow Sam!" Matthew teased as reached down to pick up the piece. 

     Sam growled "You've eaten most of it already! I've only had one slice!"

     "Well, I'm the one who made it!" Matthew responded. Sam, showing his teeth, stood up and his hands clutched the other side of the plate.  "I don't give a fuck. Don't be greedy."

     The two brothers scowled at one another as they began to tug the plate back and forth between each other.

     "Both of you!" James piped up.

     Surprised by their eldest brothers' outburst, each of them slacked their grip on the plate. But neither realized they loosened their hold a bit too much, and the plate ended up slipping between their fingers and crashed to the floor. The garlic slice had been tainted by tiny shards of glass, which had now become embedded in the tasty morsel.

     Both brothers stared down in shock before Matthew's voice broke the silence. "Oh shit...Sam I'm so sorry..." 

     Sam's gaze shot up, his eyes filled with anger. "God damn it Matthew! I had dibs on that! Now look what you've done!"

     Matthew backed away cautiously, slowly raising his hands up as a modest means of self defense. 

     Sam reached out and grabbed his younger sibling by the collar of his yellow sweater and snarled angrily at him "You know I love garlic bread..." His grip lessened and his voice softened, as if he was about to break down in tears over spilled milk, or in this case, dropped bread.

     "Sam, I can make another if you want..."

     "Yeah and that'll take what, another hour? I'll probably be in a food coma by then." Sam spat, his grip tightening once again around the fabric of the jacket.

     "Sam! Come on! I said I was sorry!" 

     James, having had enough of their antics to last him a life, time (though he knew he'd have to put up with at least another 5,000 years worth of trouble from them) spoke, his voice low but still quite threatening. 

     "Both of you! Knock it off!" His voice was so booming that the room seemed to shake due to it's ferocity.

     "What in the world is going on here?" a softer voice spoke up. All of the brothers turned to see Mika standing there, arms crossed and clearly irked. "I leave you alone for 5 minutes and you all try to kill each other?"

     James, trying to collect himself, bowed his head forward "My apologies miss. My brothers..." He shot his two younger brothers an angry look, which prompted Sam to release the hold he had on Matthew. 

     Erik, who had been silent, rather amused by all that had transpired, spoke up "Princess, we apologize for the disruption." He stood up, patting his lips with a napkin and swiftly moved to the kitchen. "Worry not my dear. I shall clean up the mess post-haste!" Erik briefly vanished into the adjoining room before returning with a broom and dustpan in hand.

     Sam and Matthew both moved aside as Erik began to sweep up the bread and the bits of broken glass.

     James looked back at the two. His features had softened, but he was still quite irritated with them. "Both of you. Don't you have something you would like to say to Miss Mika?"

     Both boys made eye contact with Mika before lowering their heads in embarrassment. 

     "We're sorry..." They muttered together in almost perfect unison.

     Mika let out a small sigh before waving her hand in dismissal. "It's alright. I can't say I totally blame you. That garlic bread was pretty good."

     Matthew grinned. "Hehe thanks!"

     This caused Sam's face to become forlorn and he crossed his arms and grumbled to himself. 

     Throughout the entire exchange, Damien had been fixated on the woman who had just entered the room and was now standing directly behind Mika, with a large crow perched on her shoulder. When their eyes locked for a brief moment, his face ran as white as a sheet.  James, noticing, moved to his side. "What wrong?" he asked in a low whisper.

     "That girl, she's...I can feel something."

     James looked back at the woman, who was standing directly beneath the entry way to the dining room. She was a petite young woman with a round face, shoulder length wavy brown hair and her eyes were a light shade of hazel. Her calm demeanor  and posture suggested an air of wisdom beyond her years, but something in the way her eyes looked...James believed that they seem to reflect some semblance of melancholy. When their glances crossed paths, James felt overcome by an odd feeling in his abdomen. He could feel the energy radiating off of her. But it wasn't sexual in nature, no. It suggested that a high level of power flowed in this woman's veins. 

     "I can feel it too..." James muttered.

     "James..." Damien groaned in discomfort. "She's a witch..." 

     "So princess," Erik said as he stood up, holding the dust pan with broken glass firmly in his hand "Who's your pretty little friend?"

     "Huh?" Mika turned to see Faith standing behind her. 

\---------------------------------------------------

     I made my way up behind Mika, following where she had run off to. It was the dining room. When I drew closer, I recognized them as being a group of five young men. They seemed...out of place. One of them (a lanky, frail looking fellow) caught my gaze for a moment. However, his face contorted into a look of discomfort and he turned to one of the other men, a gentleman with jet black hair and a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. Behind his lenses, I could see he possessed a striking set of golden eyes. 

     But something swelled with in my chest. I felt...incredibly uneasy. But then it hit me. His glasses...I reached my hand into my jacket pocket and pulled out the broken spectacles I had picked up the previous night. No...were they the same pair? 

     As I returned the glasses to my pocket, a strange surge of energy suddenly enveloped the room. I squinted, and then I noticed it. There was a faint glow that surrounded the body of all five of the men. They were magical beings of some sort

     Suddenly, Malix's voice echoing inside my head.  _'There were five of em.'_

     It was them. It absolutely had to be. There were five of them, one of them clearly wore glasses....and now there was this high level of energy radiating off of them. Upon closer inspection, each had their own unique color being put off by their energy. The man with glasses glowed a golden yellow (it matched the color in his eyes) , while the frail one beside him was emanating a soft dark gray color.

     I immediately darted my gaze across to the other three men on the opposite of the room. There was one wearing a green and white vest, and his body shown with a forest green hue. Directly in front of him, was someone who looked like he was the youngest of the group. He had bright blue eyes, only matched by the sky blue gleam that surrounded him. The final of the group was crouched down between them the other two. He was sweeping up broken class and had fiery red hair. The light that enveloped his form was a soft magenta hue.

     "So princess," he said as he stood up. His eyes immediately met my mine. He wore a charming, albeit unsettling smile. "Who is your pretty little friend here?"

     My body tensed as Mika turned to face me. My mind began to race with a random assortment of thoughts and emotions. What were these men doing here? Had they hurt Mika yet? She looked fine but...What if they tried to take advantage of her? 

     "Oh? This is a classmate of mine from school. Her name is Faith Underwood. We have an economics class together."

     The youngest of them immediately scurried over, his eyes wide and excited. "Hi there! I'm Matthew! Nice to meet you Faith!" He reached out his hand. And as if I was running on autopilot, I reached my hand out to meet Matthew's. As our flesh touched, I felt a warm sensation. But the longer we shook hands, the feeling changed into one of intense pain, which immediately caused me to pull away. Matthew stared at me with confused eyes. 

     That confirmed it. Incubi automatically drain energy when they come in contact with human flesh. But when a witch does touches them...there was a sort alarm system set up in our immune systems. It alerts us to pull back before they have the chance to take more. That feeling that ran through me when my hand touched Matthew's and it was a feeling I had recognized all too well. Admittedly, if I became over powered, they would be able to drain me...And I didn't want to experience that empty feeling again. I slowly drew my left arm behind my back. 

     Mika laughed nervously "Yes...this is Matthew. And that's James," she pointed to the gentleman with the glasses, "and that's Damien," her finger moved to the other two on the opposite side of the room. "And those are Erik and Sam. They are-"

     "Demons." I interjected flatly.

     Everyone's eyes widened, as if they were all processing the word that had just come out of my mouth.

     "Incubi, if I'm not mistaken..."

     Matthew slowly stepped back "How...?"

     "Matthew! Cover Mika's eyes!" The one named Damien called out.

     "Huh?!" He said. He was clearly confused but he looked to have shrugged that off as he pulled Mika close, drawing her head into the fabric of his jacket. 

     I threw my arm out, a glowing hot light emerging from my hand as I did. A split second later, the light shot from my hand and the entire room filled with a bright white flash. 

\-------------------------------------------

     I looked back to Damien. His flesh came covered in perspiration and he looked like he was going to collapse. Instead of responding out-loud, I relayed to my confusion via my thoughts.

_How can you be sure?_

     Damien leaned in close, his voice incredibly faint. "It's that bird. I can hear its thoughts. It's trying not to panic. It wants to protect her master."

     I moved my eyes to gaze upon the crow that sat upon Faith's shoulder. Its eyes seem to blink rapidly and its head jerked around frantically.

     James' eyes return to his brother and noticed his eyes were beginning to well with fear.  _Do you sense something else?_

     "Yes...That woman...I can hear angry, resentful thoughts running through her mind."

     James once again moved his eyes to the woman, and her calm demeanor had changed as Matthew finished shaking her hand. Her eyes narrowed and filled with such intensity, they could scare the fur off of the strongest mountain lion. After lowering her hand, she placed it behind her back. 

     As lady Mika finished introducing all of us and she was about to continue further, Faith interrupted. 

     "Demons." She said. Her voice echoed a chilling harshness that was enough to send a cold-snap through my spine. Mika, Erik, Sam and Matthew were all expressing a look of equal shock by what she had just said. But Damien and I were more taken a back by the fact that she so openly expressed the truth. 

     "Incubi, if I'm not mistaken..."

     Matthew backed away from her. The confusion of the situation seemed to have overwhelmed him. "How...?"

     Suddenly, Damien's voice rose up, filled with panic. "James, she's going to-"

_What?_

     Damien's eyes swiftly shot open and he raised his voice loud enough for us all to hear. "Matthew! Cover Mika's eyes!"

     As Matthew pulled Mika in to cover her eyes, Faith threw out her hand, from which there was a bright white glow. As soon as she did, the bright light shot out into the room. I quickly shielded my eyes with my arm. Shortly after, an intense ringing noise rang through my ears. Mika and my brothers all let out distressed filled wails as the ringing persisted. I peaked my arm out only slightly, and my eye briefly caught sight of the stinging glow. I returned my arm back up to protect my retinas. But that cursory glance left my eyes feeling tender, which caused them to water.

_Damien...What is sh-_

     However, my thoughts to him were cut off by a feeling of intense pressure against my chest. And before I could properly register where it came from, a sharp force pushed the air from my lungs and I felt my feet leave the ground where I had been standing. Initially, I just expected to fall backwards, but my body was instead violently propelled backwards. As I flew through the air, the force caused my arm to fall away from my face, but I quickly squinted my eyes shut. However, the light inside the room was still so severe, my eyes began to sting with pain. 

     Suddenly, my back was met with another surface. However, this instantly gave way and the sound of shattering glass penetrated my ears and was followed immediately by a loud thump as my body hit the ground below. I let out a soft groan as the air slowly began to refill my lungs. Through my lids, I saw that the white light had diminished. I cautiously opened my eyes and was met with the dim glimmer of the moon. My chest still felt some level of stress and it stung slightly as I tried to take in deeper breaths. As I composed myself, I used my elbows to push my torso up. But as I did, my face was met with the sharp points of a forked blade, mere inches from my lenses. My eyes traveled up the pristine metal until they landed on figure of the woman who had been wielding it. Her stance exuded confidence and her face reflected a mixture of contempt and disgust.

It was the witch; Faith. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Faith and James engage in combat, both fighting with intent to kill.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize for the delay. I have been doing most of my work in Apache open office and when my laptop did an update, for some reason ALL of my chapters got deleted. Meaning I had to start this over from scratch v_v You can imagine my frustration...Anyway, I hope my one reader enjoys this o~o Seriously though, I would really appreciate any feedback I can get on this~

      Her harsh eyes remained fixated on me, intently watching for any signs of movement. Her face resembled that of a fierce predator who was waiting in for the right moment to rip their prey to shreds. I held my breath tightly within my chest as her sword continued to loom ominously in front of me. My eyes traveled very briefly behind her. The once blinding light that had previously filled the dining room had now dissipated. However, what alarmed me was the fact that I did not see any sign of either Mika nor my brothers. For a split second, a wave of dread swam through my mind that something had happened to them. But the feeling fled as soon as it came, because I saw appear from behind the now shattered window. And the rest of them soon followed suit. They moved slowly, trying to reach for whatever they could as a means of orienting themselves. Upon seeing this I let out an exhale of relief. But that feeling of content was immediately shattered once I realized I was still at the blade end of this witch's sword.

      "That hit to the chest was supposed to kill you, you know."

      I flinched slightly at her words. They were cold and steely and I could feel the amount of utter content she held for me in her words alone.

      "I guess you're more powerful than I thought. However I assure you, I will not make that mistake again..."

      I saw her arm pull back slightly before she violently thrust it forward. As she did, I heard a loud whoosh sail through the air, followed by the sound of a blade piercing flesh. This brought her movements to a sudden half, followed by a pain filled exclamation. 

      "Arrghh...!" The impact from pain caused her to lurch forward, "What the fu-"

      Before she had the chance to finish her sentence, I shot my right foot up and violently kicked it her abdomen. Her eyes widened and was followed by another verbal expression of pain as she was sent backwards. I hastily attempted to stand up, but my legs were still weak from Faith previously knocking the wind out of me. I looked ahead and saw that she was no on her back. I smirked slightly inward as i noticed that her expression suggested that my kick had been as equally as impactful to what she had done to me. 

      "Bet that stings like a bitch, doesn't it?!"

      I turned my head again to the window and saw that Matthew was leaning over the broken pain of the window. He had thrown one of his knives into Faith's back as a means of distracting, and seemed so impressed with his shot, that he was oblivious to the fact one of his hands was lying on top of broken glass. I stared past him and saw Sam and Erik both still trying to re-stabilize themselves. Sam was leaning against the back of a chair to keep himself from toppling over and Erik had himself propped up against one of the cabinets. The spell must have done quite the number on them, whatever it was...But I noticed someone was pissing from the picture. 

      "Erik!" I called out. "Where's Mika?"

      Before Erik could respond, I saw Damien lift up a now unconscious Mika in his arms. She looked to have knocked out cold, but other than that she looked completely unharmed.

      "I've got her," Damien assured. His voice had once again defaulted to a much calmer tone. "I think that loud noise might have stunned her a little. But she's alright."

      I nodded my head before steadily pushing myself back up onto my feet. I wobbled slightly, but managed to regain my balance. As I focused myself, I saw Faith had also now returned a standing position. Her face once again held that venomous look in her eyes and she was clutching Matthew's now bloodied dagger in her hand. I could tell by how white her knuckles were how furious she was. 

      Sam's eyes fell on the back of the witch's head and as he began rewind the previous events in his head, a loud and angry growl bellowed in his throat.

      "You fucking bitch! I'm gonna rip your god damn throat out!" He pushed his body away from the chair and began to charge towards the window. Faith seemed unwavered by my younger brother's threats, as she continued to stand her ground in front of me. And it seems her resolve was warranted as Sam suddenly collapsed to the floor once again. 

      "Gah! Fuck!" he swore.

      "Sam!" I shouted. "Don't push yourself. I can handle this."

      "James," Erik spoke up. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" 

      "There's no point in all of us wasting our energy again, is there?" My gaze traveled to Erik once again. He was trying to remain collected, but his body looked to be shaking slightly as he tried to keep himself propped up. "Besides, you all look like you still need to recover. You won't be of much assistance if you can barely stand."

      Erik let out a weak laugh in response. "True enough I suppose."

      "Fuck!" I heard Sam curse again.

      Matthew, who had finally found the strength to force his body away from the window frame, collapsed in the chair Sam had been leaning on. "You sure you got this, James?"

      A confident smile slowly spread across my lips as I pushed pushed my glasses up the bridge of my nose. "Oh believe me. I'm sure."

      Faith, who seemed slightly perturbed by new sense of confidence, immediately charged forward at near lightening speed, her sword raised and ready to strike. I swiftly jumped backwards as her blade came down, missing my torso by a hair. Despite the fact that she had just barely missed me, I saw her lips silently mouth a series of words but I didn't catch what of them were. When my feet regained contact with the grass, I noticed a gust of gray energy shooting right for me. I attempted to side step to the left, but my movements were still somewhat sluggish from Faith's previous spell. I acknowledged I was going to take another hit, but this time I raised my arms up as a modest means of defense. I gritted my teeth as the force slammed aggressively into my abdomen, which sent my body flying. That was two for two now. However, this time, while the spell was still enough to knock me back, my arms seemed to have saved me from having the wind knocked out of me again. I lowered them slightly, only to see Faith with her left hand aimed in my direction. And though my body was traveling away from her, I could still see a faint glimmer of gray slowly building up in her hands. She was charging another spell.

      I briskly leaned my torso back, pulling the rest of the weight in my body with it, allowing me to flip in mid air. My body, once again met with the softness of the grass, but this time, was propped up on one knee, allowing me to keep my balance. Faith seemed genuinely surprised that I was still capable of such agile movement. I took this as a sign she was slightly distracted, and used the opportunity to reach my left hand behind my back. Fortunately, she didn't seem to notice and lowered her hand to once again clutch the handle of her sword.

      “You know, a good corpse tends to stay down.” She said. I could detect a hint of clear agitation in her voice as she bent her knees slightly in preparation to lunge at me a third time.

      But her movement came to a halt as her eyes caught glimpse of the golden firearm now aimed directly at her.

      “What can I say? I can be quite stubborn.” I retorted, squeezing the grip firmly in both hands and got ready to take aim.

      “Tch..” Seemed to be her only response. “You think that's gonna scare me? I know a Devil who touts shit bigger than that little pea shooter of yours.”

      Devil? That word caught my attention. Was she referring to Malix? I mean, I remember his gun being rather large in size. Given that she seemed to be from this area, maybe she had had a run in with him. However, I shrugged off the notion as Faith widened her stance and darted towards me yet again.

      I promptly pulled the trigger and the bullet bee-lined right towards her. The white hot flash from the muzzle caused her to halt her movements. But to my surprise, she didn't try to step out of the way. Instead, she lightly turned the handle in her hands until the flat end of the blade was facing my direction and then tilted it slightly across her torso. Did she really think she'd be able to stop a bullet with a sword? But I was taken a back as the bullet met made contact with the pristine metal. I could see her flinch and her lips pulled back as she gritted her teeth in dissatisfaction. I think she initially believed the bullet would have just ricocheted away when she made her attempt to block it. But the force behind the bullet still resided within in. I could see Faith's hands tremble slightly as she continued to hold her sword up in order to keep the bullet at bay. Her underestimation of my abilities led me to believe her opinion of Demons were built on ignorance rather than actual experience. I smirked inwardly. This would be the key to my victory.

      A mixture of purple and gray light began to swarm around the sword as the bullet persisted in trying to force its way to its intended target. Faith than let out an exaggerated grunt as she swung her arms violently to her right, causing her sword to redirect the purple and gray energy away from her. This movement clearly took a lot out of her, as she stumbled forward slightly and pushed the tip of her sword into the earth in an attempt to lean on the handle for support. She shot me a menacing look and as I took aim to fire again, I heard what sounded like an thunderous burst coming from my right.

      Both Faith and I turned our attention to where the sound had come from and we both stared in shock. The force of her defensive spell combined with my bullet had been sent careening towards one of the sections of the wooden fence that enclosed the backyard garden. But instead of the wooden material being sent into a flurry of splintered chunks, the energy looked as if it had been halted in it's tracks mere inches away from the fence. The energy swelled and before it vanished, a sudden light green pulse burst around it. When the energy from Faith's spell dissipated, the pulse began climbing it's way up to the sky. As it did, I noticed this strange green light seemed to encircle the entire manor. Faith's eyes followed the illuminated trail up, until she was looking directly above where we were both standing. When the florescence reached it's peak, it detonated a nearly blinding discharge. Faith and I both covered our eyes. It was intense, but still no where near as bad as the spell Faith had used on me and my brothers previously. When the eruption faded, it made its way for what looked like a giant green seal circling above us. The seal contained a cross in its center, with a series of runes scattered across each T section.

      I looked over towards Faith, who seemed to be completely awestruck by the appearance of this seal. I also found myself slightly distracted, but not by the seal. But more so with Faith herself. The hatred that once occupied her eyes had vanished. Her new expression almost suggested she recognized the seal. Did she? The fact that she was so shocked by it led me to believe that she was not the one who cast it. But then it begged the question; if she didn't then who did? My fingers clutched tightly around the grip as I slowly raised my pistol up again, taking aim towards her once again. But her eyes still remained focused on the seal that spun above us. Did she not see my barrel targeting her? But that's when I noticed it; the look of recognition seemed to give way to feelings of immense sadness, to the point where the light from above highlighted thin lines of liquid rolling down her cheeks. She was crying. This initially caught me off guard. Why would sh-

      “Take the shot James!” Sam's harsh voice rang through my ears, snapping me from my reverie and my body jumped slightly in surprise. As a result, my finger bumped the trigger of the pistol.

      Sam's voice caught Faith's attention as well and she pulled her head back to look at me. But before she had the chance to raise her sword to defend herself, the bullet zoomed past her weapon and impaled itself directly into the witch's right shoulder. The impact caused her to let out a fierce cry of agony. However, it wasn't enough to force her onto her back like I had expected. The magic contained in my ammunition was enough to knock your standard devil to the ground. Her body only seemed to be moderately stunned, but it at least made her drop down to one knee, her left hand clutching at the wound, desperately trying to both sooth the pain and clot the bleeding. And her sword had once again dug itself into the soil as she leaned against it for support. As the anguished look on her face slowly faded, her eyes moved to look back at me once again. The fiery hatred had once again returned to her irises.

      “You are gonna pay for that...You filthy incubus.” she hissed at me. I could hear the venom in her voice and it made me shudder slightly. As much as I did not want to admit it, the absolute stubborn hatred this women held for me was going to make this fight much more difficult. If she managed to defeat me, I could only assume she would use the high from that victory to rip my brothers to pieces. Normally I didn't hold such doubt in my brothers abilities but...

      My gaze traveled behind Faith for a brief moment. From where I was, they looked a bit more recovered, but all of them (including Sam, who had gotten up and was now using his elbow to prop himself up against the back of the chair Matthew was sitting in) were still leaning onto objects for support. Even Damien, who had been previously holding Mika in his arms, was now bracing himself against the end of the dining room table. And on the table itself, Damien had placed a still passed Mika.  
I bit down on my lip as I took aim to fire at Faith once again. I could not allow this witch to cause anymore harm. I promised to make sure it would end with me.  
I was about to fire when I saw her lean her head against her sword and drop her left, blood covered hand to the ground below. Was she going to collapse?  
That's when I noticed a gray luster appear under her hand. It sparked for a moment before zipping around the ground where she was planted on. From where I was, it looked like it was circling around her. Shit. Another spell.  
I hastily tugged my finger against the trigger.

\-----------------

      The stinging pain steadily faded and had now substituted itself for a dull throbbing. I inhaled sharply, my gaze traveled back to the demon who had just fired at me. I gritted my teeth in anger. He was going to pay for that cheap shot. But then again, it was my fault. The seal had distracted me; because I recognized it....

      My mind flashed back to one of the many excursions I had taken with Harold. We had settled in a quaint little town in Glasgow, and were investigating rumors of a treasure known as a Banshee Pendent. It was said to grant the wearer the ability to destroy all forms of matter with through the power of a sonic wail. Sadly, our leads only led us to a series of dead ends and grass stains. But we didn't leave entirely empty handed, as one of the leads managed to lead us to a small Black Market that sold a variety of magical items; some genuine, others fraudulent. Harold grew interested in a large, leather bound tome, that the seller insisted contained a series of holy spells. Harold begged me to inspect the items quality. To test it, I cast one of the spells in the book; a minor guiding light spell. And to my surprise, the book was authentic. I eyed the merchant warily, as I wondered how a lowly human could acquire such precious item. The man's eyes flashed a piercing gold and I realized he was a Devil in disguise. Harold didn't seem to notice and ended up purchasing the book. I didn't protest, as I knew my words would have been in vain regardless. 

      As we packed up our belongings for the trip home, Harold became distracted with studying the symbols on the frayed yellow pages. He ended up falling asleep, his old withered cheek pressing against the inner hinge. I shook my head and gingerly lifted his head up and slid the book out from under him. He let out a small snore and I couldn't help but chuckle. For someone so old, he certainly had a youthful air about him. I decided not to stir him from his slumber and instead opted to throwing a blanket over his shoulders. He'd probably have a crick in his neck, but at least he'd be well rested. Before I moved to finish packing his things for him, my eyes fell upon the page he had been examining before falling asleep; It read, in ancient Latin Sigillum Sanctum Divinum Praesidium...

_A Seal of Divine Protection. Harold, you old fool..._

      While I had initially been caught up in nostalgia, the pain from the bullet wound snapped me back to my senses to allow me to come to a realization. When it did, I cursed to myself; as long as were underneath this barrier, it would be impossible for the Incubus and I to actually kill one another. We could tear each other to ribbons, but the seal that surrounded the mansion would act as a mild healing agent. At least, to a point. It was why this beast had been able to recover from the flash-bang so easily. It was why my previous attempts at using a blasting curse had failed to rip his chest cavity open. And (fortunately for me) it was the reason this bullet wound didn't knock me on my ass and why the pain was lessening so quickly. While I appreciated being able to withstand against his gunfire, I knew if he shot me in a fatal area, I'd be temporarily down for the count. But if that happened, it'd grant him the chance to drag my body away from the seal and just finish the job then. And I couldn't let that happen. Not only would I never be able to keep my promises to Harold (to destroy his work and to protect Mika) I'd never know what it was that Harold had left for me. My best strategy would be to incapacitate him. Maybe hack off a limb or two. It'd heal eventually if he stayed within the protection of the barrier, but hopefully it'd buy me time to take care of the others. Than I could dispose of them else where. Maybe I could give them to Malix...

      I gently pressed my forehead against the flat end of my sword before expelling the air that was building up in my chest. As I did, I pulled my now bloody hand away from my shoulder and gently pressed it into the earth.

_Clipeum defensionis gratia involvens._

A gray light shot out of my hand and scurried around on the ground below me before hastily encircling the area around me. As both ends of the circle connected, I heard the sound of the muzzle once again. I pulled my head away from my blade and my eyes were met with another bullet. But this time, it had been stopped by the light field that was now surrounding me. The tiny cylinder of metal slowly dissolved against the shield, much to the shock of that demon...James, I think his name was. I was surprised I had even bothered to remember his name, given the circumstances. As the last little specks of the bullet vanished into the light of the force field, James fired off another series of rounds in my direction. But each met the same fate as the first.

      James stood up and his face shifted from a look of irritation to one of confusion. Initially, I thought he was assessing my spell and examining it for weak points. But then he spoke aloud.

      “So, I see you use glamours as well.”

\------------------------------------

      I forced myself up off of the ground and stood in slight awe as all of my shots evaporated into the silver light that was flowing up from the circle Faith was standing in. But it wasn't this that stirred surprise within me (that seemed to be happening to both of us quite a lot tonight), it was the fact that her physical appearance had changed. Her once brown hair was now a pristine silver color, similar to the seal that engulfed her. And her soft hazel eyes had now been exchanged for a pair of deep crimson ones. It seems my brothers and I were not the only ones with secrets (and other forms) to hide.

      “So,” I started “I see you use glamours as well.”

      She looked slightly taken a back. Flustered almost, as if I had just walked in on her during her most intimate moment.

      My eyes canvased the rest of her, examining the notable changes. And that's when I noticed tiny little white slivers that appeared scattered all over where her flesh was visible. Immediately, I recognized them as deep tissue scars and a part of me could empathize with her embarrassment. She seemed to take great care to hide her true self from the eyes of others. This led me to believe she was the type of woman who intentionally chose to shield herself from the rest of the world. She did not want people asking questions. And, I confess, after seeing her like this, my curiosity became piqued.

\---------------------------------

      “Woah.” Matthew said, his eyes immediately to the witch's new appearance. “So she uses them too. Man, she looks pretty messed up, doesn't she?” He looked up to Sam, who grinding his teeth in displeasure.

      “I could make her look worse. I could probably rip the bitch in half...”

      Matthew just shrugged at Sam's threats and turned to face me as I moved myself closer to the window.

      “What is it Erik?”

      “Hmmm....” I hummed to myself before looking back to Damien.

     _That seal from before. Looks like this place is protected. Think it was her?_

      Damien only shook his head in response.

     _Than it seems we have another magic user in our midst._

      I turned, tapping my finger against my chin in thought, and my eyes fell upon the still unconscious Mika. I looked back to Damien, who once again shook his head. In response, I made my way over to him. He leaned forward and whispered into my ear.

      “It was Harold...” He whispered.

      My face contorted slightly. _What? How do you know?_

      “I saw him...His spirit came to me.”

       _So you have that ability now too?_

      “I guess so...”

      I sighed and pinched my fingers against the bridge of my nose.  _Well, what did he say?_

      “This is his home. And Mika is his granddaughter.” 

      My eyes widened in surprise. _You're joking._

      He shook his head. "I'm afraid not."

       _Well, now that is quite the coincidence, isn't it? Seems almost too convenient..._

      "He also mention....Her." Damien motioned his head out in Faith's direction.

       _He did?!_

      Damien lowered his head, feeling a tinge of shame. “Yes, he the she was an old dear friend and that she was invited here. In a letter...I wanted to say something before but, I wasn't sure how to broach the subject with Mika so close by. I thought it might alarm her.”

     _No, no. Not exactly an easy subject to bring up. But he didn't feel the need to mention she was a witch?_

      “Well not specifically but he did say she was someone who possessed a great deal of power. And that she was going to help us protect Mika.”

     _I'm guessing he didn't know of her distaste for our kind..._

      “I guess not...I'm sorry.”

       _Is he still here? Could you maybe...I don't know, get Harold to talk to her? To at least calm her down?_

      Damien shook his head. “No...He only had enough strength left to deliver a few messages and than he vanished.

       _Tch...I see._

      “There's one more thing...The seal. It's meant to protect against hell borne magic completely."

       _Well that's reassuring. If Malix does find us, we'll have the upper hand._

      Damien nodded. "He mentioned something else about it. It has minor healing priorities. He said it will help us get stronger as we train as well as protect us all from death."

       _Really?_

      "Yes...No matter how fatal the wound, the spell will keep us alive." 

       _Hmm...Well at least we know that James isn't in any real danger. But that does make their battle rather superfluous. Do you think she's aware of it?_

      "It's entirely possible. I can't read her mind with that shield she has up."

       _Hmmm....I think we may need to step in after all._

      I eyed Sam and Matthew from the corner of my eye. They seemed in slight better spirits and I was surprised Sam hadn't leapt into battle to helped James. But while Sam loved to engage in combat, he was also incredibly loyal to our eldest brother. He'd probably fight to the death for him if he asked. Despite this though, I could see the impatience on his face. He caught me staring from his peripheral and turned his head to face me.

      “What is it? You two gossiping over there?”

      I crossed my arms and gave him a stern look. “We may have a small pro-”

       _Bang! Bang! Bang!_

      My attention was drawn back outside and I saw James had opened fire upon the witch yet again. But this time, her entire body was outlined with a gray tint. She merely stood her ground as James' shot became absorbed into the light surrounding her form.

      “Shit...” I cursed.

      “Oh man...It really looks like Jame's is in trouble. Are you guys sure we shouldn't and help him out?”

      “He said not to. He doesn't want us all getting tired out again...Than we'd have to take more energy from Mika...” His head turned and looked softly upon the sleeping form of the women on the table. “And given what a number that jinx did her, that might not be a good idea.”

      “It's not just that,” I started. “Damien has informed me that Harold left him a message.”

      “He what?!” Sam and Matthew shouted in unison (again).

      Damien nodded. “It's true. His spirit informed me that Faith was a friend of his...and that she was summoned her to protect Mika from harm.”

      “Oh jeez. How nice. Did he happen to mention the fucking hate boner she has for us?!” Sam spat angrily.

      “No...He vanished before he could give me any more details. His spirit was very weak.”

      Matthew, with a look of concern, spoke up “Did he say anything else?”

      I raised my hand in Damien's direction, which stopped him from continuing. “That seal we saw earlier. The large one that seems to be encompassing the entire mansion. It seems it was Harold who cast it...”

      Sam and Matthew looked back at one another for a moment, before turning their eyes back to us.

      “Wait so that means...” Matthew began.

      “This was Harold's place?!” Sam expelled.

      “Dude...” Matthew's eyes widened as he came to a sudden realization. “That means Mika's grandfather was...!”

      “Precisely.” I confirmed.

      “Aw man...” Matthew sank in his chair. “This mess just keeps getting crazier.”

      I was about to continue when my eyes traveled back outside again. James fired torrent of bullets at the oncoming witch. But again, it was futile. Whatever spell Faith had was going to continue to protect her. But I wondered if she knew about the effects of the barrier that surrounded the manor. Either way, she'd stop at no lengths to immobilize James. Despite his wishes, I decided it was time to intervene. But how? That shield would prove itself to be quite the nuisance.

      “Arrrrggghhhhhh!” My brothers all turned their sights back to the two dueling outside. Faith had jumped into the air and was bringing her blade down where James was standing. But he looked to have ducked away fast enough. But as a result of Faith missing him, her attack ended up cutting into the side of the gazebo.

      “Jesus...” Matthew said. “Looks like James is just trying to keep his distance now.”

      “Yeah. It looks like it.” Sam looked back to me. “So wh-

      “Another thing about the barrier,” I interjected. “It's a holy seal. Which means we are safe from both hell-born magic as well as fatal wounds. Anyone within a certain proximity of the manor will be protected from death."

      Sam face palmed, letting out an annoyed grunt. “Well, that's fucking great. Well, than what are we supposed to do if we can't kill her?

      “Well...Maybe we could wait for her shield to wear off. I mean, James isn't in any real danger! And neither are we...” Matthew suggested.

      “Yes, but she is currently giving off a higher level of power at the moment.” Damien sighed. “She might not be able to kill us, but she can certainly wound us enough to get us away from the seal. And if she does...”

      “Than let's try to take her out in one shot! That shield won't last forever right?” He raised his voice with eagerness.

      I looked at Matthew and beamed at him proudly. “Why Matthew. You're a genius!”

      “Huh?” Matthew blinked. He wasn't used to such praise from any of his brothers. “Well...uh thanks.”

      “I mean, it's a nice thought. But how do you propose we go about doing that?” Sam asked.

      “Hmmm...” My eyes shifted toward Damien once again.

     _Thoughts?_

      “We could try and wait for her to unleash another powerful spell. It might weaken her shield temporarily.” He proposed.

      “Yeah!” Matthew exclaimed excitedly.

      I nodded. “That seems to be our only option...Question is, what woul-” Before I could finish, my words were interrupted by the sound of violent shrieking from outside.

      “I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOUR CAT AND MOUSE BULL SHIT YOU FILTHY DEMON FUCK! IF I CAN'T KILL YOU I'LL JUST TEAR YOU TO SHREDS UNTIL YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PILE OF FLESHY PASTE!”

      “Well, that answers that...” I sighed. “Alright. Sam. Damien and I wi-”

      “Hnnn...”

      I turned my head to see that Mika was now conscious again. She sat up and ran her hand across her face. “Wh..what's going on? All I remember was a bright flash an-” She stopped herself and her eyes were immediately drawn to the shattered window. “What the hell happened?!”

      “Your little witch friend over there went stir crazy.” Sam huffed, crossing his arms. It looked like he had regained most of his strength back now.

      “Witch...?” Mika whispered in confusion before sliding off of the table.

      We all nodded before Matthew spoke up. “Yeah...She's giving James the run around out there.”

      “She's what?!” Her eyes widened in a alarm as they darted around the room. When she realized James truly wasn't in the room with us, she scurried across the room to the large imposing gap that had once been the window and looked out. As she did, a harsh whirring sound began to fill the air, followed by what sounded like thunder. My brothers and I all followed suit behind Mika. Faith had once again encircled become surrounded by a ring of light. However, this one was bigger than the last. And there was an second one rotating above her head. It had a large star in its center with a large rune centered in each one of its points. Faith thrust her hand upward and snapped her fingers. As she did, a giant sword fell from the seal above her, followed by another, than three more, than eight. Than another 12. I shifted my gaze to see that James had been cornered against one of the walls of the far end of the garden. He had his gun raised, and from where I was, I could see he was siphoning all of his remaining energy into it. I looked to Damien, who nodded.

     _We need to act now. She's charging up. You get James out of there. And if James unleashes that attack...He's going to lose his glamour spell._

      “We have to do something! They are gonna kill each other! Why didn't any of you step in!?” Mika demanded, shooting us all an disappointed look.

      “We couldn't,” Sam said. “James didn't want the rest of us to lose our energy again. Because than it would mean that...You know.”

      Mika's cheeks became slightly flushed as she turned back to Faith.

      “On top of that," Sam continued "Her jinx from earlier...It knocked us all back pretty hard. And you passed out...” 

      Mika lowered her head slightly in embarrassment “I did?” She seemed almost ashamed by the fact that she had.

      “Don't worry Mika,” Damien's soft voice perked up. She looked up at him and was met with a tender smile. “We'll take care of it. We are all at full strength now...”

      Mika turned her sights back outside once more. “But what about Faith...?” she asked, almost in a whisper.

      “Are you serious?! She attacks us and she's the one you are concerned about?!” Sam yelled.

      “She said she was my grandfather's friend! At least...I mean, why would she lie about something like that?”

      “You can't be ser-” Sam started but he became distracted by another series of shouts from outside.

      “THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING LEFT WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!” Faith's voice was booming, almost like that of clap of thunder during a storm. The power in her voice caused me to press the palms of my hands against my ears in a vain attempt to block out her voice. I looked to the others and saw that it had the same effect. When she stopped speaking, I pulled my hands away. My head still felt a light tinge of pain.

      “S..she sounds really mad.” Matthew murmured.

      Mika whimpered softly. I imagined because she was human, the effects of Faith's voice effected her worst of all. I looked down at her. Despite the sound, her eyes remained transfixed on the scene before her.

      Mika gasped before looking down again. Damien gently placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don't worry Mi-”

      But before he could finish his words to her, Mika shoved his hand away and suddenly grabbed hold of the window frame before leaping over it into the backyard.

      “Mika!” We all called out, leaning our hands forward to grab her and pull her back. But before we could she had already darted off across the field towards our brother and the witch.  
\------------  
      I lightly pulled my hair with my fingers and saw that the incubus was correct. My hair had returned to it's regular silver color. And the scars that scattered by body once again reappeared on my flesh. For a moment I was slightly taken a back. But then I remembered I was running on the last few drops of my remaining glamour spell. Shit. I wanted to conserve it for at least week. Guess that's another thing to add to shit pile. I decided to brush it off for now. I had bigger problems, and he was currently aiming (albeit futile) a golden pistol in my direction. The circle beneath me slowly faded until I was left with a silver silhouette framing my body. I took one step forward, and James's immediately fired off another three rounds. The result was the same as the last few. It made contact and then immediately dissolved.

      “Is there a reason you keep trying that? Or do you enjoy seeing yourself fail?” I smirked at him. 

      “Given your glamour spell wore off, I imagine that little shield of yours won't last too long. Your energy is going to deplete eventually.”

      “Don't get cute with me demon. You're just delaying the inevitable.”

      “While I appreciate the compliment miss, I regret to inform you that I am not your type.” He smirked.

      I merely continued scowl at him while raising my sword and pointed my sword in his direction.

  _Graveolentiam carmina fulgur verberare_

      My blade began to glow before igniting with a series of sparks. James quickly ducked into a run and began to sprint across the garden. As he did, I moved my arm to follow him as a vibrant stream of lighting shot out from the tip of the blade and zipped its way directly towards him. Just as it was about to make impact, he ducked behind a large rose bush. The torrent of electricity met with pile of shrubbery and it burst into flames before being reduced a crisp.

      James poked his head up, his cheeks only slightly singed from flames.

      “Well, now look what you've done. What did those flowers ever do to you?”

      I clenched my teeth together in vexation and raised my sword again.

      _Graveolentiam carmina fulgur verberare!_

      This time as the spell charged up, I bolted directly at him, taking aim to swing the blade down upon him. He aimed is gun and prepared to fire again. This idiot just didn't know when to learn. I raised the my weapon up to strike. I swung it down but before it made contact, I was hit in the face with something wet.

      Before I could properly register what it was that hit me however, I felt a violent shock run throughout my entire body. It caused my body to collapse and I fell into a series of mild convulsions. My eyes traveled up to see James holding a now empty bucket of water that looked to have been stashed behind the bush.

      “I'll admit. That was a cheap shot. But a smart man takes any opportunity fate provides.” He looked down at me with a cocky grin. “Though I do feel somewhat guilty. There seems to have been some mud in that water. You remind me of my brother Sam. He also resembles barn yard swine.”

      As the spasms in my body slowly ceased, I sat up. “How did you-”

      “That's the funny thing about magic shields. They don't protect you against non-magic based attacks.”

      A fierce growl built up in my throat as I pushed myself up to attack him again. But as I did, he swung the bucket directly at me. I swung my sword down and sliced it in two, only to be met with more mucky liquid. There had still been some left in the bucket...This fucker was just toying with me now. Cheeky bastard.

      I quickly spun on my heel and charged after him in the direction he ran.

\--------------------------------

      Faith let out a startled gasp as I tossed the bucket in her direction. It distracted her long enough for me to skirt around her make a dash for the gazebo on the opposite of the garden. I turned my head slightly and saw that she was closing the gap between us with surprising speed. All of those wounds and she was still this quick on her feet. It was admirable to say the least. I stretched my arm out behind me and sporadically fired my gun at her as means of testing if her shield had depleted at all.

      The bullets struck her, but I noticed they didn't dissolve nearly as fast as they did the previous times. My plan was working. I just had to distract her for a little while longer. Faith's face grew increasingly agitated with each shot I fired at her. I think she knew her shield was wearing off. As she drew closer, she leapt forward and propelled herself into the air.

      “Just die already!” She cried out as she brought her sword down to strike me. Just as the sword was about to pierce my flesh, I strategically ducked and rolled out of the way. When I was back on my feet, I saw that she had sent a powerful last of energy directly through the right side of the gazebo. There was now a smoking gash from the roof, through the wall and down to structures' the concrete slab.

      Faith lowered her sword, her breathing slow and ragged. “You...Are really starting to get on my nerves demon.”

      “I apologize ma'am. But I must confess, I don't have an invested interest in dying today.” I remarked before making my escape again.

      But as I ran, I felt the ground begin to shake under me. It forced me to halt. I turned to see that Faith had summoned another insignia beneath her. But this time, I spied a second one looming above her. It looked to be a star with a rune within each point. I could hear the low rumble of thunder and the violent streaks of lightening pierced the air around her.

      “I HAVE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH YOUR CAT AND MOUSE BULL SHIT YOU FILTHY DEMON FUCK! IF I CAN'T KILL YOU I'LL JUST TEAR YOU TO SHREDS UNTIL YOU'RE NOTHING BUT A PILE OF FLESHY PASTE!”

      I could feel the vitriol her energy was producing. It was almost oppressive. The ground trembled again and it caused me to lose my footing and stumble backwards. I looked up as she slowly inched closer. Her hair was flaring out in all directions as she moved, and her eyes were now glowing a piercing shade of scarlet. I attempted to stand and but was forced to my knees again as the ground shook with a tremendous force. Faith slowly raised her hand up above her head and my ears were immediately met with a harsh snap. The symbol above her began to pulse before a large object dropped to the ground with a resounding _thunk_! It looked to be another sword. And it was soon followed by a torrent of blades, raining down from the sigil above until there appeared to be at least 30 embedded in the earth around where she stood.

      I brought my gun up again and closed my eyes. I had to concentrate. She was gathering up all of her remaining strength for this final attack, but it left her shield vulnerable. I could feel a warm sensation build up in my abdomen before traveling up through my hands and then to the barrel of my gun. One shot was all I needed. I looked towards at my hands and the noticed that my own glamour spell began to diminish ever so slightly. This was going to eliminate my remaining energy. I did not want Mika to have to see me in my natural form, but at this point, I was left with little choice. 

      “THERE WON'T BE ANYTHING LEFT WHEN I'M DONE WITH YOU!” Faith's voice was booming, almost like a clap of thunder during a storm. The voice reverberated in my ear drums and I could feel my entire skull rattle with excruciating pain.

      “Ngn...!” I groaned.

      I could feel the pressure building in my jaw and I clenched my teeth and my aim swayed slightly. When her voice fell, I found myself able to re-focus my aim once again. Faith raised both of her arms up and all of the swords were immediately plucked from the earth. My finger began to edge its way down onto to the trigger, but that's when I heard a familiar female voice.

      “Faith! Please! Stop this!”

\---------------------  
      I spun my head and my eyes fell upon Mika, who was sprinting directly toward us. A feeling of absolute horror overwhelmed me and it caused my power to falter. The swords that I was levitating dipped slightly as Mika stepped between me and James, her arms spread out.

      “Mika...Move. Now.”

      “Faith please. This has to stop! Do you think this is what my grandfather would want? Look at the destruction you've caused...”

      My head lowered and that feeling of guilt swelled within in my stomach once again. Not only had I lied to Mika (twice)...She had now seen me for what I truly was. For someone who was supposed to keep Mika away from the realm of magic...I was sure as fuck doing a bang up job. I brought my head back up but my eyes fell on James, who had lowered his gun and was looking at Mika with a look of shock. I clenched my fists tightly as I was overcome with a feeling of abhorrence. I couldn't let these monsters stay here. Harold had entrusted Mika's life to me and I refused to fail him. And there was also Malix to worry about. If he caught wind of the incubi's location, I knew they would come straight here. Even with the seal...Mika would be vulnerable when she left the manor. I needed to keep her safe. I weighed my priorities and decided that eliminating these beasts would garner the best possible outcome for Mika's well being. I'd keep my promise to Malix and Mika would be safe as a result. She would be cross with me, but at least she would be out of harms way, for now anyway. 

      “Mika. These... _things_ can't be trusted.”

      Mika's face contorted into a frown. “Did my grandfather trust you?”

      Her words caught me slightly off guard, but I remained firm.  “Mika...Please. I know we don't know each other that well, but I am sincerely asking you to trust me. I promise I'll explain everything to you once all of them are eliminated."

      She shook her head. “My grandfather always believed in giving others the benefit of the doubt. He did that for you, didn't he? Well, I am giving James' and his brothers the same courtesy. They are on the run Faith. They were injured...And once this other group is dealt with, they're going to leave. I'm just helping them in the mean time. Please...” She slowly lowered her arms to her sides. “Faith...if what you say is true, you know full well that if my grandfather was still with us, we would have done the same thing.”

      I just continued to stare at Mika. I hated to admit it, but she had a point. Without a shadow of a doubt, Harold would have gone out of his way to help them. And he would have done this regardless of my protests. 

      “But...I....You don't understand Mika. I've experienced what these...things, are capable of. I refuse to let them drain you.”

      “Faith...It's alright. I know it's not out of ill will towards me. They need to their strength for training. And I want to help them in whatever way I can. I've spent so much of my life just being passive, but now, I have the chance to assist someone in need.”

      My face contorted in disgust. "You've already allowed them to start feeding on you?"

      Mika's face became slightly flushed as her eyes glanced over to the open window. "Well...Yes. But they promised to not use them on me again. I know they can regain energy through simple hand contact. That is how I plan to assist them if they need anything from me."

      I shook my head. "You can't expect them to keep their word on that."

 

 

 

      Her eyes moved back to look me, her flushed appearance now replaced with one of seriousness and determination. "Maybe I can't. Maybe I'm completely wrong and they'll all just devour me while I sleep. But then, it's a good thing your here, isn't it?"

      I raised my eyebrow, but she continued "If you stay, and it turns out I'm wrong...Than you can...Do whatever it is you need to do."

      “I....” Once again, I couldn't find the words. She really was a lot like her grandfather. Going out of her way to find compromise. But this entire situation presented a dangerous gamble. Shit. I knew she wasn’t going to move. I assumed that also just like Harold, Mika was equally as stubborn, if not more so.

      After much deliberation, I let out a defeated sigh and slowly dropped my arms to my side, which caused the swords to follow suit. Both sigils slowly began to fade and I could feel my knees begin to buckle beneath. I looked to Mika, whose face had changed from a look of anxiety to one of relief. 

      "Thank you Fai-" She started before being interrupted by the the orange-haired incubus dropping in from what seemed like nowhere and scoop Mika up into his arms before leaping away.

      I reached my hand out, energy swelling in my hand once again “Let her go yo-”

      My voice was cut off by the feeling of something sharp piercing its way between my shoulder blades, passing through my chest cavity and burst out the out the other side.

      “Huurkkk....!” I gurgled as a wave of blood shot its way up my throat and spilled out of my mouth. I felt my knees give way beneath me and my eyes were met with what looked to be a thick purple spear sticking out of a hole above my right breast. The pain was immense and my body once again fell into a series of convulsions. While my body shook, I could feel the object aggressively jerk itself free from the gaping wound it had made. And due to it being the only obstacle separating me from gravity’s force, I collapsed to the ground. Before everything faded to completely, my ears were ringing with the muffled sounds of Mika's distressed voice, calling out me. 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading. Working on chapter 5 now. Please leave a comment if you can. I appreciate any feedback~ It's a great motivator.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fan fiction in a long time. I am open to suggestions and criticisms.


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